Law prohibiting book bans in Illinois now in effect

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel just heard this on the news...
..."DEGMAN: Under the Illinois law, libraries have to adopt the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights or similar language. It says, among other things, that materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval. If the public or school library chooses not to follow these guidelines, they'll lose access to grant funding. No Illinois Republican supported the bill. During the legislative debate, State Senator Jason Plummer said residents elect local library boards and pay local taxes. And they, not the ALA, should have the final say.

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JASON PLUMMER: None of your constituents voted for this random organization. And you're taking their powers away from them simply because you may not agree with their beliefs.

DEGMAN: According to the American Library Association, there were efforts to ban more than 2,500 books nationwide last year, a nearly 40% increase over 2021. At the bill signing, ALA executive director Tracie Hall talked about freedoms that Americans have and said everyone should be proud of the state's new library law.

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TRACIE HALL: History will surely note that we, librarians and legislators, civic leaders and community stewards did not stand idly by and let the right to read and to freely access libraries be taken from us.

DEGMAN: The state's new law that aims to prevent any further book bans takes effect January 1.

For NPR News, I'm Alex Degman in Springfield, Ill"

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!

I am not in favor of a ban, however, I do support a restriction on who can checkout or see a book. Schools and children under the age of 16 or 18 should not be allowed to have access to Pornography (books that depict "Explicit Sexual Acts" weather in written or pictorial form) or books that promote Hatred or Racism. Unfortunately there is too much of that crap out there for them to see on their own.