Why Does Arkansas Law Let Librarians Distribute Obscene Material to Children?

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Over the past several months the public library in Jonesboro has made headlines for pro-LGBT and graphic, sexually-explicit material in the library’s children’s section.

Last week someone asked Family Council, point-blank: How is it that public libraries can give this kind of material to children? Doesn’t that violate the state’s obscenity and pornography laws?

Here’s the answer:

Arkansas’ obscenity law contains an exception for public libraries.

In 1981 the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 28. The law makes it a crime to distribute obscene material in Arkansas.

However, the law also contains an exception for schools, museums, and public libraries. It isn’t against state law for one of these institutions to distribute obscene material.

Arkansas also has a state law against “selling, loaning, or displaying pornography to minors.” However, to our knowledge that law has never been used against public libraries like the one in Jonesboro.

So why does Arkansas law let librarians distribute obscene material to children?

The answer isn’t clear, but it seems to be a combination of different court rulings as well as successful lobbying by organizations that represent schools, libraries, and museums.

That said, there’s nothing to stop communities from taking steps to remove obscene or objectionable material from their libraries.

Library boards and librarians have leeway to establish selection criteria and make decisions about the kinds of material available on the library’s shelves.

Library patrons generally can use a Material Reconsideration Form to ask libraries to get rid of obscene or inappropriate material.

Either way, there are steps that communities can take to make sure children aren’t exposed to harmful material at their local libraries.

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Proposal Would Relocate Sexual Material In Jonesboro Library

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On Monday the Craighead County Library Board is scheduled to vote on a policy that would move graphic sexual material out of the children’s area at the library.

You may remember last year the library made headlines after a lawsuit revealed that extremely graphic material was on the shelves in the children’s section of the library.

The proposed policy that the library board will consider on Monday says,

“The purpose of this policy is to protect minors from unintentional exposure to sexually graphic/explicit material in the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library and to assist parents who wish to allow children to browse through books in areas designated for minors by ensuring some areas of the library are free of detailed descriptions of sexual encounters. 


“Any material in the library placed in areas that are designated for use particularly by minors shall not contain text describing or images depicting sexually graphic/explicit acts.”

This proposal doesn’t eliminate sexually-explicit material at the library altogether, but it at least moves sexually-explicit material out of the children’s area.

Take Action: Please email the board members of the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library at board@libraryinjonesboro.org and let them know you support the proposal to move sexually explicit materials out of the children’s area at the library.

For more information on this issue, please check out Safe Library Books for Kids on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/606012047072322.

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Jonesboro Public Library Hires New Director Following Controversies Over Pro-LGBT, Sexually-Explicit Reading Materials

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On Thursday the Jonesboro Sun reported that the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library Board hired Vanessa Adams to serve as the library’s new executive director. The decision comes after the library’s previous executive director and assistant director resigned late last year.

The Jonesboro Public Library made headlines multiple times in recent months over controversial material in the library’s children’s section.

In June the library placed a large selection of pro-LGBT material in its children’s library area. One mother noted that the picture books showed very young children identifying with different sexual-orientations. The publishers’ age range for these books reportedly was as young as four years old.

In October a Fort Smith attorney and a former library board member filed a lawsuit alleging that the library board’s Sensitive Content Subcommittee violated Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act.

The lawsuit alleged that the subcommittee met after learning that “several books in the library’s children’s section contain nudity, sexual conduct, and graphic images of various sexual acts,” but failed to properly advertise the subcommittee meeting to the public ahead of time as required by state law.

Because the meeting was not advertised, parents and families did not know that the subcommittee was meeting to discuss the presence of sexually-explicit material in the children’s library — meaning they did not have an opportunity to make their voices heard about the graphic material.

Following the controversy, the Jonesboro Sun reports that the Jonesboro Public Library’s executive director and assistant director submitted their resignations late last year, citing “the surrounding uproar following the gay pride display as the reason for their departures.”

Families should be able to walk into a public library without worrying about the books that might be in the children’s area. Hopefully, families in Jonesboro will be able to do that in the future.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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