Book ban lifted in Iowa’s public schools

Iowa City, Iowa – An injunction preventing the implementation of Iowa’s book ban for public school libraries was lifted by a federal appeals court.

When the injunction is lifted, the book ban will be enforceable while the legal challenges are pending.

That implies that by the time pupils return to class, there may be limitations on sexually explicit materials in school libraries.

The books that schools should and shouldn’t remove from the shelf were not explicitly listed when the book ban was first enacted last year.

In order to comply with the rule, several schools found it difficult to compile lists of books to delete.

The community and access coordinator for Iowa City Public Library and president of the American Library Association, Sam Helmick, stated that there are many unanswered questions regarding the bill.

We entered a murky area. Age-appropriate is a legally ambiguous term, especially in light of the regulations that have already been passed to regulate sexually explicit content, according to Helmick.

Helmick asks what librarians should do when a school library doubles as the community library for a small town, in addition to determining what is age-appropriate.

According to Helmick, some libraries might take extra precautions and remove more books from the shelves.

“That chilling effect is already taking place by us not purchasing materials or not maintaining materials that even our legislators read when they were in high school,” Helmick said. “We’ve seen schools remove classic literature like Shakespeare off of their shelves.”

The Iowa City school system issued a statement following the decision, stating, in part, that “today’s ruling once again places the district in a state of flux.”

In a statement, Governor Reynolds stated that parents, not librarians, should determine whether or not sexually explicit novels are suitable for their children.

The law’s opponents said that this decision did not mean the end of their legal battle.

Attorney Nathan Maxwell of Lambda Legal stated, “I don’t see it as a loss, it’s more of a delay that we have to go back and sort of re-present our arguments.” Maxwell said that the appeals court eliminated “some of the state’s most dangerous arguments,” even if the order has been handed down to the lower courts.

Numerous LGBTQ+ lawsuits are handled by Lambda Legal.

Maxwell stated that they want to submit a move as soon as possible in order to obtain another injunction.

Meanwhile, employees at libraries are still worried that they might break the law without realizing it.

“Library employees have a right to know and receive training about the standards and expectations that they must meet, especially if there are legal or professional consequences for falling short of the mark,” Helmick stated.