Colorado Library Law on Book Bans

Senate Bill 24-216

On May 31, 2024, Governor Polis signed into law Senate Bill 24-216, “Concerning the standards that public libraries are required to include in policies regarding library resources.” The Senate Bill is worth reading in full, or you can find a bill summary on the Colorado General Assembly website.

Why was this legislation introduced?

This legislation (and related, albeit different legislation in other states such as Illinois) are designed to respond to rising challenges to public and school libraries and their collections, displays, or programs/services. Challenges to library services and collections have become a much more frequent and coordinated occurrence in recent years, including in Colorado.

Prior to 2020, the vast majority of challenges to library books and resources were brought by a single parent who sought to remove or restrict access to a book their child was reading. Recent censorship data are evidence of a growing, well-organized, conservative political movement, the goals of which include removing books about race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health from America’s public and school libraries that do not meet their approval. Using social media and other channels, these groups distribute book lists to their local chapters and individual adherents, who then utilize the lists to initiate a mass challenge that can empty the shelves of a library. (American Library Association)

What do Colorado’s new standards do?

IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A PUBLIC LIBRARY TO CHALLENGE CENSORSHIP IN THE FULFILLMENT OF ITS RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE INFORMATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT
(from Colorado Senate Bill 24-216, Section 2)

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. Always refer to the actual law first and foremost, which is found on the Colorado General Assembly website.

In short, the standards requires library boards to follow the policies they have established, ensuring the library board has the final decision should any challenges occur. A library cannot simply remove a resource that has been challenged without a review done in accordance with their reconsideration policy. Challenges are considered public record (including the details of the challenger, who must live in the library’s service area). The law includes some protections for library workers.

Excerpts from the bill summary:

“The bill requires the board of trustees of a public library (board) to establish written policies for the acquisition, retention, display, and use of library resources and for the use of a public library facility. In addition, if a public library reconsiders library resources, the board is also required to establish a written policy for the reconsideration of a library resource. The board is required to comply with specified standards in establishing a policy for the acquisition, retention, display, use, and reconsideration of library resources and for the use of public library facilities.”
“The bill specifies that a public library may remove a library resource from its permanent collection only if the library resource has been reviewed in accordance with an established policy for the reconsideration of library […]”
“The bill specifies that a request for reconsideration of a library resource is not a library user record as described in current law and instead is an open record under the ‘Colorado Open Records Act’.”
Library staff members are “not subject to termination, demotion, discipline, or retaliation for refusing to remove a library resource before it has been reviewed in accordance with the public library’s policy […]”

In addition, the bill lays out the following standards concerning the diversity, inclusivity, and representation of library resources:

(a) A PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVES AS A CENTER FOR VOLUNTARY INQUIRY AND THE DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION AND IDEAS;

(b) THE PUBLIC HAS THE RIGHT TO ACCESS A RANGE OF SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AESTHETIC, MORAL, AND OTHER IDEAS AND EXPERIENCES THROUGH A PUBLIC LIBRARY;

(c) EACH LIBRARY RESOURCE IS PROVIDED FOR THE INTEREST, INFORMATION, AND ENLIGHTENMENT OF THE COMMUNITY AND SHOULD PRESENT DIVERSE POINTS OF VIEW IN THE COLLECTION AS A WHOLE;

(d) A PUBLIC LIBRARY SHALL NOT EXCLUDE A LIBRARY RESOURCE BECAUSE OF THE ETHNIC ORIGIN, ETHNIC BACKGROUND, OR GENDER IDENTITY OF THOSE CONTRIBUTING TO THE CREATION OF THE LIBRARY RESOURCE OR BECAUSE OF THE TOPIC ADDRESSED BY THE LIBRARY RESOURCE OR THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THE LIBRARY RESOURCE;

(e) A PUBLIC LIBRARY SHALL NOT PROSCRIBE OR PROHIBIT THE CIRCULATION OR PROCUREMENT OF A LIBRARY RESOURCE BECAUSE OF PARTISAN OR DOCTRINAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE LIBRARY RESOURCE;

(f) IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A PUBLIC LIBRARY TO CHALLENGE CENSORSHIP IN THE FULFILLMENT OF ITS RESPONSIBILITY TO PROVIDE INFORMATION AND ENLIGHTENMENT;

(g) A PUBLIC LIBRARY SHALL CONSIDER THE PERSPECTIVES OF MARGINALIZED GROUPS, INCLUDING THOSE IDENTIFIED IN SECTION 22-1-104 (1)(a);

(h) FOR A PUBLIC LIBRARY THAT PROVIDES FACILITIES TO THE PUBLIC, THE LIBRARY SHALL MAKE THE FACILITIES AVAILABLE ON AN EQUITABLE BASIS, REGARDLESS OF THE BELIEFS OR AFFILIATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS REQUESTING THEIR USE; AND

(i) A PUBLIC LIBRARY SHALL PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION BASED ON AGE, BACKGROUND, POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS VIEWS, ORIGIN, DISABILITY, RACE, COLOR, SEX, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, GENDER EXPRESSION, MARITAL STATUS, NATIONAL ORIGIN, OR ANCESTRY IN THE SELECTION, RETENTION, DISPLAY, USE, OR RECONSIDERATION OF LIBRARY RESOURCES AND PUBLIC MEETING SPACES.

What do Colorado’s new standards NOT do?

They do not prevent community members from challenging materials in the library.
They do not “ban book bans” in Colorado. Libraries are still free to remove books based on challenges, should they come to that conclusion after following established procedures.
They do not give libraries or their staff the ability to make decisions in place of a parent as to what their child can access. As Jenn Cook, the technical services director for the Garfield County Public Library District, says of the law: “It really doesn’t change the way we operate […] It simply codifies into law, that we should follow the policies that we already have set and continue following those policies going forward. It just puts those policies into legal standing. […] But the fact of the matter is, libraries do not operate in loco parentis… according to the law, we do not act in place of parents,” she said. “We do not take away the parent’s rights to decide what their children should have access to, and we don’t take away the parent’s responsibility to supervise what their children are accessing.” – KSUT

Why was this legislation introduced and what do the new standards do?

Senate Bill 24-216

Why was this legislation introduced?

What do Colorado’s new standards do?

Excerpts from the bill summary:

What do Colorado’s new standards NOT do?

Further Reading