Board training reviews 'unprotected speech' definitions and how they affect collection policy

Board member Daniel Mokley led the Duchesne County Library Board through a short training on how federal definitions of unprotected speech relate to library collection development and Internet-use policies.

Mokley told the board that most prohibited categories are narrow and that the library is unlikely to encounter many of them in ordinary collection work, singling out obscenity, true threats and fraud as legally established categories. He emphasized the special legal status of child-sexual-abuse imagery and said staff must treat such material as criminal evidence: “If there’s anything that someone's brought in on a device or something, our filter shouldn't be allowing it, period. But then they don't even give a warning. We gotta call the police.”

Mokley also discussed enforcement limits in the age of AI-generated images, noting that current federal and Supreme Court guidance requires that certain prohibited images depict an actual minor. The board did not change collection policy during the meeting; Mokley framed the session as guidance to help staff and trustees understand how to interpret existing rules and the library’s Internet policy.

Board members asked clarifying questions but made no formal motions on collection policy during the session. Mokley said staff are already following the Internet policy and filters for on-site devices and will escalate suspected criminal material to law enforcement.

The training session was presented as informational; no policy changes were proposed or adopted at the meeting.