A state House committee on Wednesday narrowly voted down a bill that some thought would violate the First Amendment and likely force the closure of some of the state’s tiny, rural libraries.
The lead sponsor of Senate Bill 536, which had cleared the Senate, was Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Jonesboro Republican and ally of former state Sen. Jason Rapert, a Conway politician and preacher who has stirred havoc on the Arkansas State Library Board since his appointment to the formerly little-noticed panel just over a year ago. In fact, one of those speaking for the bill was Toni Rose, who said she is with the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, which Rapert founded.
The bill would abolish the state library board as well as the Arkansas State Library and have their responsibilities turned over to the Arkansas Department of Education, of which the state library is already a part.
The bill also seeks to restrict books that some people view as sexually explicit and harmful to minors while increasing the workloads and services of libraries. The bill would, for instance, mandate minimum hours for libraries, some already struggling to stay open, and also compel interlibrary loans.
SB536 recalls the ill-fated Act 372 of 2024 that was ruled unconstitutional in December and is on appeal. SB536 also would seek to restrict minors’ access to some books.The bill’s supporters say they simply want potentially harmful books out of the reach and view of minors, while librarians note it would be challenging to comply with that request in the state’s many one-room libraries.
A Lowell woman who said she and her husband plan to homeschool their son told legislators Wednesday that parents, not librarians, should decide what children read. “Librarians are not to take the place of parents. The library is not your enemy,” she said.
Rep. Nicole Clowney (D-Fayetteville) noted that the state library board’s votes have been narrowly split at 4-3 and suggested that, since Republican Gov. Sarah Sanders will get to appoint a fourth member of the board this fall, legislators should wait for that process to take effect instead of passing such a wide-ranging bill.
But Keith Kellum, a justice of the peace in Saline County, home of its own library wars, said, “I think it’s time for drastic measures. … It didn’t have come to this, but I think it has.”
Crystal Gates, executive director of the North Little Rock Public Library, expressed concern that the bill’s requirements setting minimum hours could force libraries to change staffing and end up closing. “Can we just please slow down?” she asked.
The bill also would enhance the academic requirements for some librarians, another cost concern.
The bill further seeks to force libraries to disavow any connections with the American Library Association even though Debbie Hall, an employee of the Arkansas State Library, noted that the association provides grants that often go to tiny, rural libraries and often support boost accessibility for library users with disabilities.
In 2023, for example, the Arkansas Times reported, the association gave a $10,000 grant to Crawford County to install doors at the Alma library to comply with federal law and to make the library more accessible to people with disabilities.
Judy Calhoun, former director of the Southeast Arkansas Regional Library, expressed concern about the bill’s mandated improvements such as longer hours and interlibrary loans without additional funding to cover those expenses. Further, if people object to the location of books in their libraries, they should go to their local library boards rather than adopt this state legislation, Calhoun said.
As the meeting neared an end, one lawmaker noted, “There are two sides to every fight. … I think this could have been resolved very easily,” but “folks dug their heels in.”
In his opening remarks, Sullivan, who worked to support defund the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library, ridiculed the very notion of local control — a premise once advocated by the nation’s Republicans.
Sullivan said public testimony in the Senate committee had shown that it’s “very clear that librarians don’t want oversight.”
“We’ve all witnessed state boards and commissions that have gotten too big for their britches,” he declared. “The librarians want very little oversight. They want to run their library the way they want to run their library.”
