NEW ORLEANS — In recent years, the controversy has grown over what books and online materials children can access at libraries.
In less than a month, a new state statute will go into effect, impacting what Louisiana minors can check out.
Heather Riley, director of public services for the New Orleans Public Library, is encouraging parents and guardians to come in to make decisions about permissions for their child's library card before the law takes effect on June 1 – the day the Summer Fun and Reading challenge begins.
“It’s asking that we have a system in place that gives parents the ability to determine amongst these options what their children can access," Riley said about the law.
Riley said the library had to make some changes on the backend and train staff ahead of the change.
"The biggest issue for us, and the thing that we want to make sure everyone knows, is that every parent gets to decide what’s right for their family," Riley said, "And we want us, as librarians, to be ready to answer those questions for you and to be informed, trusted information professionals.”
The New Orleans Public Library will give guardians the option to choose if they want their child to have full access to all materials, exclude digital materials, such as e-books, or physical materials that have been deemed sexually explicit by the library board.
Right now, the New Orleans library board has not deemed any books or materials sexually explicit, Riley said.
If guardians do not visit a location to update their child's permissions by May 30th, the library will begin restricting access to digital materials.
“We work really hard to purchase materials that are age appropriate and have an interest to all of the New Orleans community. If anybody does see something that they feel is inappropriate, they can fill out, challenge these items to our board and they would go through this process," Riley said.
Only Orleans Parish residents with a library card are allowed to challenge items at the New Orleans Public Library, Riley said.
While New Orleans hasn't banned any books from its catalog, it's a different story in other parts of the country and state.
For example, the battle over books has been ongoing on the Northshore.
The St. Tammany Parish Library has been in compliance with the law since early this year, adopting a tiered card system for families to choose from.
Jefferson Parish officials said they're revisiting its library card policy to ensure it's in compliance by June 1. The parish said it would be on the lookout for additional information soon.
In 2023, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom reported a 65 percent increase in demands to censor book titles in libraries across the US compared to last year.
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