Assembly committee hears bill to establish model library challenge policy and protections for librarians

CARSON CITY — Assembly Bill 445, presented Tuesday to the Assembly Committee on Education, would require the Nevada Department of Education and the State Library, Archives and Public Records administrator to develop model policies governing access to library materials in public schools and public libraries.

Assemblymember Danielle Monroe Moreno, sponsor, said the measure establishes a transparent process for challenges and protections for librarians, and gives local educators and community stakeholders tools to make decisions about library collections. She described the bill as a way to “safeguard students” while preserving local control.

Brandon Kyle, a legislative intern working with the sponsor, summarized the bill’s two-part approach: Section 1 directs the Department of Education to develop a model school library policy that includes collection curation guidelines, a request-for-removal form, a review committee process, written rationales for decisions, an appeals process and prohibitions on removals based solely on disagreement with viewpoint or an author’s identity. A conceptual amendment circulated before the hearing would require challenges to begin at the school level, require school-based review committees that include the librarian, teachers and parents, extend the time between repeated challenges from one year to three years for schools, and expand protections against discipline or dismissal for librarians who follow the policy.

Section 2 would instruct the State Library to develop a comparable model for public libraries. That section would require the removal request to be accessible to residents served by the library, establish a review committee and require the governing body of the public library to make the final determination; it would also prohibit re-submission of the same request for five years and provide immunity from civil or criminal liability for staff acting under the policy.

Teacher–librarians who helped draft and supported the bill emphasized the role of school library committees and professional selection standards. Dr. Nichole Beer, a Clark County School District teacher–librarian and co-founder of Read Freely Nevada, said schools must provide “windows, mirrors and sliding doors” for students and said data shows 10,000 book challenges nationally during the 2023–24 school year; she said 44 percent of challenged books were by people of color and 39 percent about LGBTQIA characters. Robin Carpenter, a certified teacher–librarian in Clark County, said Clark County’s current policy already contains similar steps and that challenges are serious, time-consuming processes that require nonbiased review and reading material in full.

Supporters providing testimony included the Nevada State Education Association, Nevada Association of School Superintendents, Nevada Association of School Boards, charter school representatives and nonprofit groups. Testimony stressed local control, transparency and protection for library professionals.

Committee members asked about workload and implementation. Sponsor Monroe Moreno and testifiers said requirements were intended to be local and manageable: the conceptual amendment limits who may submit removal requests (only those with a student enrolled in the school), allows consolidation of duplicate challenges and directs the school-based committee to set procedures appropriate to the site. The sponsor signaled willingness to work on clarifying language for small classroom libraries.

No opposition testimony was offered during the hearing. The sponsor indicated interest in refining language before a work session or floor action.