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Residents urge Brookings County to address explicit material in public library’s young‑adult section
Summary
Two Brookings residents told the county commission during public comment that books in the Brookings Public Library’s Young Adult section include explicit content and should be labeled or restricted; commissioners noted the library follows ALA policy and that any funding request could be considered separately.
Two Brookings residents urged the Brookings County Commission on June 4 to take steps to warn parents and limit minors’ access to explicit material in the Brookings Public Library.
Peggy Parker, a Brookings resident and grandmother, said she has researched how publishers and libraries classify “young adult” material and that many titles available locally are rated as explicit on ratedbooks.org. “From what I understand from my research, the US Census Bureau has classified young adults as being 18 to 25 year olds,” Parker said, adding that the library’s young adult shelves include books she considers inappropriate for ages she described as 11 to 19. She asked the county to help develop an exterior warning or label so parents can see at a glance if a book contains explicit content.
Nancy Stewart, another resident who said she has tracked the issue locally, told commissioners she opposed providing county funds to buy what she characterized as pornographic or obscene materials for minors and urged the county to consider policies similar to those enacted in other states. “I understand that the library is requesting additional money from Brookings County, and I have to protest against giving more of our hard earned tax dollars to enable the purchasing of more of these books for minors,” Stewart said. She listed statutes and bills from other states and said she had copies of excerpts for the commission to review.
Staff and commissioners responded that the library follows American Library Association policies and that, under current practice, librarians select purchases and parents are primarily responsible for monitoring what children check out. Commissioners did not take formal action on the library materials during the meeting; staff said the library director would provide regular reports to the commission and that funding requests would be considered through the normal budget and reporting process.
The public comments occurred during the allotted public‑comment period; speakers were limited to five minutes and commissioners noted that any formal action would be scheduled for a future meeting if requested. The commission did not direct staff to remove or label specific titles at the June 4 meeting.
