(CBS DETROIT) – A pair of bills in the Michigan House, introduced by Democrats, aims to make it more difficult to implement book bans.
The bills would set requirements before books could be removed from shelves at community and district libraries but not school libraries.
“Depending on what they’re banning, I mean, if they’re banning pornography, I’m all for it, but if they’re banning our history, I’m against it,” said Doug Freeman, who was at the East Lansing Public Library on Tuesday with his granddaughter.
The bills, also called The Freedom to Read Act, would limit who can challenge library materials to community residents, require challenges to certify they have read or watched the material they want removed, require library directors to decide what is on the shelves and only allow libraries to approve removals if the material has been determined to be obscene by the United States or Michigan Constitution.
“In a way, it’s better to view it as more of a conversation between patron and library because we want to hear their voices, and a lot of times folks are just wanting to be heard and this is sometimes the way they feel most able to be heard,” said Chrissie Evaskis who works as a collection development librarian at the East Lansing Public Library.
Evaskis-Garrett says that while libraries like hers already use some of the requirements outlined in the bill package, she feels it’s a good idea to make them law.
“There’s this idea that we’re just willy-nilly out here purchasing whatever books strike our fancy, and we’re really not so kind of having those things codified, I think not necessarily protects us but the freedom of information in general,” said Evaskis-Garrett.
Freeman doesn’t want to see one person make decisions about which books go on the shelves. He says it’s important to think of his granddaughter.
“I want her to know the true history of our country,” he said.
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