Vjosa Isai, The New York Times; Behind Locked Shelves: Alberta’s Librarians Brace for a New Era of ‘Book Bans’
"Starting in January, a new Alberta law will compel librarians to restrict access to books and other material deemed inappropriate for certain ages, a role many say would turn them into censors. Across the Western Canadian province’s public libraries, staff are uneasy.
They will be required to pull from the shelves an indefinite number of books, movies, video games and comics containing “graphic visual depictions of sexual acts,” as defined by Alberta’s government, and make them available only to library card holders older than 15 years.
Those 15 and younger will need a parent’s consent to peruse that part of the catalog, which will be kept separate from the general collection. Access to online resources like e-books would face the same restrictions, but the government has acknowledged that there may be technical limitations depending on where the content is hosted.
As the deadline for compliance approaches, librarians will have to review thousands of items in their collections, move some to a private area, and create a vetting process to check ages — or risk consequences including threats to their budgets. The government did not allocate funding for the extra work or for any new physical infrastructure."
