Janet Anderson

Burlington

Right to Read ND is a nonpartisan group of parents and citizens dedicated to defending North Dakotans’ right to access information freely and without discrimination. We believe in safeguarding the freedom to read and ensuring library and school collections reflect our communities’ diversity. We trust teachers and librarians to curate collections responsibly.

For the past two months, we’ve fought against SB 2307, which threatens free speech, removes local control, and criminalizes teachers and librarians. Despite strong opposition from 150 North Dakotans and support from only 23, it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, then narrowly passed the full Senate. It now moves to the House of Representatives.

SB 2307 is bad for families. Its vagueness could result in restricting access to books based on individual viewpoints. Additionally, SB 2307 doesn’t just restrict access to physical books. It’s intended to make digital resources and databases acceptable for the youngest of users which means eBooks, audiobooks, and research databases may only be allowed to include material acceptable for Kindergarteners. For those who use apps like Libby and Hoopla for free books, this would be devastating.

We fully agree with the need to protect our most vulnerable population from harm, and we will continue to advocate for libraries and schools to implement and uphold necessary policies and procedures related to age-appropriate materials. However, we will not support vague legislation that may lead to restricting access to a large portion of citizens just because a small portion disagrees with the content. Federal and ND law already prohibits explicit material based on the 1973 Supreme Court ruling commonly called “The Miller Test.” The law says that any material meeting three specific criteria must not be allowed and librarians and teachers across the state already follow this law. You should visit your local libraries and speak to the employees to understand how books are chosen and organized and to understand that no library or school in our state contains pornography.

On 3/1/2025, Right to Read ND organized “Read-Out” events at public libraries across ND to give citizens the opportunity to show their opposition to SB 2307 and their support for the right to access books. In Minot, we had approximately 150 people who gathered peacefully on a cold, gray day to exercise their right to read material they chose. We had people of all ages reading outside and it was a wonderful demonstration of a community coming together to show they do not want the government to decide for them which library materials their families can access. More than 1,000 people participated in this event at 17 libraries across the state.

With all of this in mind, we are asking that our fellow ND library users help defeat this bill by not just contacting your local Representatives, but by using your libraries and letting library employees and teachers know that you trust their judgment, their training, and their policies. Find “Right to Read ND” on social media for more information.