Summary of the bill

This bill introduces comprehensive provisions regarding library materials and free expression in Massachusetts schools and public libraries. It establishes new requirements for selecting and maintaining library materials, emphasizing that selections should be based on professional standards and educational value, not personal or political views. Specifically:

• The bill mandates that each school district and local education agency create a written library materials policy aligned with American Library Association standards, which must be publicly posted and include procedures for handling challenges to material selections.

• The legislation protects school employees and librarians from adverse employment actions when they select materials in good faith, and requires annual reporting on challenges to library materials.

• The bill makes several technical language changes to existing laws, such as replacing gendered terms like "chairman" with gender-neutral alternatives like "chair" and updating references to "selectmen" to "select board".

• The bill also requires the board of library commissioners to submit an annual report to legislative committees detailing challenges to educational materials, including information about the library, challenged materials, and the outcome of each challenge.

These provisions aim to protect intellectual freedom while establishing clear, professional guidelines for material selection in educational settings. 

The time is now

A small but vocal group has been driving a flood of book bans in schools and libraries throughout the country. In the name of "parents' rights," this group urges parents to attempt to dictate not only what their own children should read, but also what all children should read. The result is that children are kept from reading books that resonate with them, make them feel that they belong, and help them understand how get along with others.  

Books have always been curated by trained and experienced educators and librarians on the basis of educational value, literary merit, and appropriateness for various age groups. There is no reason to expect that these curation efforts will ever be abandoned. Attempts to ban books, on the other hand, are based on political ideology or personal religious beliefs and are sometimes accompanied by attempted intimidation of teachers or librarians.

Here in Massachusetts we have an opportunity to curtail book banning efforts in our cities and towns by doing what many states have already done. We can enact statewide legislation.

In the previous legislative session, a "freedom to read" bill received significant support but did not make it through the Ways and Means Committee in time for a floor vote. We must act now to make sure that the current bill receives significant support, makes it through committee, and gets passed and signed into law.