Republican lawmakers across the country are proposing legislation that would target online library databases and library management technology — tools built by a half-dozen large companies that catalogue millions of books, journals and articles that students peruse for assignments.
These bills — already enacted in Utah and Tennessee, on the verge of becoming law in Oklahoma, and proposed in at least six other states — are broadly similar. They require databases to remove and block student access to material that is obscene, pornographic, sexually exploitative of children or “harmful to minors” — designations that opponents say could encompass a wide range of texts. Some laws, such as a bill advanced in Nebraska, also require that parents be able to view all content their children can view online.
So far, database companies — such as ProQuest, Gale, EBSCO Information Services and Follett School Solutions — say they are tracking the spate of legislation but have no plans to make major changes to their services. In March, Follett, which provides books and library management systems to the majority of American school districts, said it would add a feature allowing parents to track and limit what their children check out from the library. Then it disavowed the idea after receiving backlash on social media.
Conservative activists, politicians and parents argue that more controls are needed to eradicate an epidemic of sexual content, including pornographic material, that students are viewing through online school databases.
There is “absolute obscenity on our laptops or our devices that we allow our children to take home, and they’re paid for with taxpayer dollars,” said Joni Albrecht (R), a Nebraska state representative who introduced that state’s bill. “I have 14 grandchildren, and I don’t want any one of them exposed to anything like this.”
But educators and librarians say the new laws are unnecessary, as federal child protection and Internet privacy laws passed decades ago already require database companies to ensure that their materials are age-appropriate, which the companies have done mostly successfully for at least a quarter-century. Database company leaders said in statements and interviews that they are careful to provide only content that is meant for K-12 students.
Teens fight for the right to read with ‘banned-book clubs’ and lawsuits
Educators worry that the real purpose of the laws — especially those forbidding content “harmful to minors” — is to justify blocking articles and books that parents dislike.
“If somebody with an anti-gay, anti-trans agenda wants to censor, the first thing you have to be able to do is point to a law that says, well, issues of sexuality are off-limits for children,” said John Chrastka, the executive director of EveryLibrary, a nonprofit that advocates for libraries. “That’s what these laws do: provide levers to remove certain kinds of material.”
The wave of legislation focused on databases, which Chrastka called unprecedented, is part of a larger conservative-driven campaign to alter nearly every aspect of the way American public schools function. Laws are being proposed and passed across the country that limit what teachers can teach about race, racism, history, sex and gender identity — and the number of books banned from school libraries reached a record high this academic year.
In contrast with those noisy debates, the recent legislative attempts to regulate online library databases have been little-noticed. And that worries Tasha Bergson-Michelson, a school librarian in Palo Alto, Calif.
Bergson-Michelson said school library databases are vital for students trying to learn about the world and to gain the data-processing skills they will need to make their way in the information-rich 21st century. She noted that the online library databases make paywalled content, such as newspaper and magazine articles, accessible to all students.
“These databases mean that any of my students, without regard for their economic background, can have access to the same intellectual and practical information,” Bergson-Michelson said. “My concern is that, ultimately, my students will find themselves in a position where they can’t access things that they care about.”
CIPA, coupled with the 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — known as FERPA, which in part protects students’ privacy online — long ago forced library database providers to exclude pornographic and otherwise inappropriate content, Chrastka said.
EBSCO Information Services, one of the leading providers of research and reference materials to schools in the United States, complies with CIPA by operating within the pornography-excluding Web filters set by school systems, said spokeswoman Kathleen McEvoy. She added that EBSCO also “has curation controls in place that ensure age-appropriateness.” She declined to say how many school systems EBSCO works with, calling that information “proprietary.”
Britten Follett, the co-CEO of Follett School Solutions, said her company offers only titles that publishers have recommended as “age and grade-range appropriate from pre-K through 12th grade.” Other popular online database providers, including Gale and ProQuest, did not respond to questions asking about their content selection processes.
These bills — already enacted in Utah and Tennessee, on the verge of becoming law in Oklahoma, and proposed in at least six other states — are broadly similar. They require databases to remove and block student access to material that is obscene, pornographic, sexually exploitative of children or “harmful to minors” — designations that opponents say could encompass a wide range of texts. Some laws, such as a bill advanced in Nebraska, also require that parents be able to view all content their children can view online.
So far, database companies — such as ProQuest, Gale, EBSCO Information Services and Follett School Solutions — say they are tracking the spate of legislation but have no plans to make major changes to their services. In March, Follett, which provides books and library management systems to the majority of American school districts, said it would add a feature allowing parents to track and limit what their children check out from the library. Then it disavowed the idea after receiving backlash on social media.
Conservative activists, politicians and parents argue that more controls are needed to eradicate an epidemic of sexual content, including pornographic material, that students are viewing through online school databases.
There is “absolute obscenity on our laptops or our devices that we allow our children to take home, and they’re paid for with taxpayer dollars,” said Joni Albrecht (R), a Nebraska state representative who introduced that state’s bill. “I have 14 grandchildren, and I don’t want any one of them exposed to anything like this.”
But educators and librarians say the new laws are unnecessary, as federal child protection and Internet privacy laws passed decades ago already require database companies to ensure that their materials are age-appropriate, which the companies have done mostly successfully for at least a quarter-century. Database company leaders said in statements and interviews that they are careful to provide only content that is meant for K-12 students.
Teens fight for the right to read with ‘banned-book clubs’ and lawsuits
Educators worry that the real purpose of the laws — especially those forbidding content “harmful to minors” — is to justify blocking articles and books that parents dislike.
“If somebody with an anti-gay, anti-trans agenda wants to censor, the first thing you have to be able to do is point to a law that says, well, issues of sexuality are off-limits for children,” said John Chrastka, the executive director of EveryLibrary, a nonprofit that advocates for libraries. “That’s what these laws do: provide levers to remove certain kinds of material.”
The wave of legislation focused on databases, which Chrastka called unprecedented, is part of a larger conservative-driven campaign to alter nearly every aspect of the way American public schools function. Laws are being proposed and passed across the country that limit what teachers can teach about race, racism, history, sex and gender identity — and the number of books banned from school libraries reached a record high this academic year.
In contrast with those noisy debates, the recent legislative attempts to regulate online library databases have been little-noticed. And that worries Tasha Bergson-Michelson, a school librarian in Palo Alto, Calif.
Bergson-Michelson said school library databases are vital for students trying to learn about the world and to gain the data-processing skills they will need to make their way in the information-rich 21st century. She noted that the online library databases make paywalled content, such as newspaper and magazine articles, accessible to all students.
“These databases mean that any of my students, without regard for their economic background, can have access to the same intellectual and practical information,” Bergson-Michelson said. “My concern is that, ultimately, my students will find themselves in a position where they can’t access things that they care about.”
A history of individual complaints
Concern over what students can view while online at school dates back to 2000, when President Bill Clinton signed into law the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA). It requires that schools receiving federal technology funding equip their computers with filters that prevent students from viewing Internet pornography or content that is obscene, depicts sexual acts or is “harmful to minors.”CIPA, coupled with the 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act — known as FERPA, which in part protects students’ privacy online — long ago forced library database providers to exclude pornographic and otherwise inappropriate content, Chrastka said.
EBSCO Information Services, one of the leading providers of research and reference materials to schools in the United States, complies with CIPA by operating within the pornography-excluding Web filters set by school systems, said spokeswoman Kathleen McEvoy. She added that EBSCO also “has curation controls in place that ensure age-appropriateness.” She declined to say how many school systems EBSCO works with, calling that information “proprietary.”
Britten Follett, the co-CEO of Follett School Solutions, said her company offers only titles that publishers have recommended as “age and grade-range appropriate from pre-K through 12th grade.” Other popular online database providers, including Gale and ProQuest, did not respond to questions asking about their content selection processes.