YORK COUNTY, S.C. — York County Library Board of Trustees has decided to halt purchasing any books for minors in response to new mandates from the South Carolina state legislature.
The Board announced in a statement that they will halt new purchases until "further clarification and guidance is received from the state regarding Proviso 27.1 and until the Attorney General makes a ruling providing libraries with guidance for collection development."
"It's an absolutely heartbreaking decision to make, but it's understandable why they made the one that they did," said Rayne Rickrode.
Rickrode works at The Liberty Book Company, a new and used bookstore in Rock Hill—right down the road from one of the many libraries impacted by this decision.
The new proviso says that in order to receive their funding, public libraries need to "certify to the State Library that their county libraries do not offer any books or materials that appeal to the prurient interest of children under the age of thirteen in children's book sections of libraries and are only made available with explicit parental consent."
The proviso does not define what "prurient interest" means.
"The problem with something calling something salacious is that that is going to be a line that is entirely different person to person," Rickrode said. "Which parent? How often? And is it a book-by-book? Are they going to have to have a parent sign off on every single book that they bring in?"
Rickrode walked WCNC Charlotte through many of the repeatedly challenged books her store carries. Many of them are from popular authors, like John Green, or are focused on LGBTQ+ themes.
"I want to believe that the people who helped pass this measure do have the best of intentions at heart," Rickrode said. "To see all of these books with previous awards, previous recognitions, then suddenly be put on the chopping block, just really makes me question what it is they think they're protecting."
As a local teacher, Tiffany Evans is also concerned. As a grandparent, she's disappointed to know her 5th-grade granddaughter won't have access to as many books.
"As parents, grandparents, teachers, then we can monitor what our own children are doing," Evans said. "I don't think the library is going to purposely put anything in here to change the opinion of kids and give them things that aren't appropriate for them, so I think it's kind of sad that they're not doing that now."
The Board of Trustees has called a special meeting to address this. It will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the York Public Library on East Liberty Street).
