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Board member proposes targeted library-policy changes to remove material illegal under PA law; librarians caution review is time-consuming
Summary
A board member proposed revising policy 109 to add specific definitions and weeding criteria to remove material the member said would be illegal under 18 Pa. C.S. §5903; district librarians warned the committee that reviewing existing collections is a time-intensive process and that many titles remain under review.
A board member proposed a narrow revision to policy 109 to add definitions and removal criteria aimed at materials the board member described as legally “harmful to minors” under Pennsylvania law (18 Pa. C.S. §5903). The suggested changes would add a definitions section and explicit criteria for removing materials with sexually explicit content that the member said should not be accessible to minors.
Why it matters Board members who support the change said they were responding to constituent concerns about certain titles, and they described the revision as narrowly tailored to visual or explicit depictions that state law prohibits from being distributed to minors. Several board members also emphasized preserving classic literature and suggested carve-outs for historically significant works.
Administration and librarian response Library and administrative staff told the board that the district already rates books and provides an opt-out process for parents. They also cautioned that the district currently has roughly 1,600 books flagged as “mature” pending committee review; each title requires staff and teacher committee work to rate and, if necessary, remove. The librarians asked the board to recognize the time and staffing needed to implement any retroactive review of the existing collection and noted that curriculum-adopted texts are subject to separate curricular-approval procedures.
Next steps The board member said he would circulate specific policy language and legal citations for the first reading; administration said it would provide data about flagged titles and staffing implications. The board scheduled a first-reading vote agenda for the next meeting on the proposed amendment to policy 109.
Ending: The board agreed to continue the discussion at its next meeting after staff provides a list of flagged titles, a timeline for committee review and samples of proposed policy language.
