Seaside city councilors weigh book restrictions on young people

SEASIDE — Wading into the culture wars, city councilors are debating whether to pursue restrictions on sexually explicit materials for minors or give parents more tools to screen materials at the Seaside Public Library.

The discussion at a work session on Monday night is part of a national push by conservatives to challenge books at public and school libraries by raising objections about content.

Looking for Alaska

The American Library Association has reported that the number of book titles targeted for censorship increased by 65% in 2023 compared to 2022, a record 4,240 titles. Many of the most challenged books contain sexually explicit and LGBTQ+ themes.

City Councilor Steve Dillard has pressed the issue in Seaside. Last year, Dillard and others raised concerns about two children’s books: “And Tango Makes Three,” about two male penguins who raised an abandoned baby penguin at the Central Park Zoo in New York, and “When Aidan Became a Brother,” which details the coming out of a transgender child.

The Library Board voted in January to keep both books on the shelves.

A Court of Mist and Fury

At the work session on Monday, Dillard cited public concerns about library materials provided to minors and his concerns over the library’s promotion of a banned book reading challenge last fall.

The reading challenge, part of the library’s annual freedom to read week, promoted books that have appeared on the American Library Association’s most challenged books list.

Jennifer Reading, the director of the Seaside Public Library, said the library has promoted the freedom to read week for at least the past two decades. “So, it’s something we’ve always participated in, and it’s a great way to spark conversation with kids about why their freedom to read is important,” she said.

Dillard said he read two of the promoted books and found sexually explicit content in both. “One of them is ‘Looking for Alaska,’ and this book has a sex scene between teenage characters in the book,” he said. “Another book is called ‘A Court of Mist and Fury,’ this book has multiple sex scenes,” he said.

“Looking for Alaska,” a 2005 young adult novel by John Green, deals with themes of friendship and loss. “A Court of Mist and Fury,” a 2016 book by Sarah J. Maas, is fantasy fiction with emotional and romantic themes.

“I realized that not only are we providing sexually explicit books to minors, but we’re promoting them as well,” Dillard said. “Out of all the things that our library does so well, I believe that this practice is wrong.”

City Councilor Tita Montero said the term “sexually explicit” is based on cultural values and is too vague to define. She suggested using “obscene” or “profane” instead to describe library materials.

“Secondly, anytime you say you’re going to keep something from a certain population, that’s banning and that’s censorship. And I firmly believe that it is up to every parent to figure out a way that they want to monitor what their children read,” Montero said.

City Councilor David Posalski said it should be left to parents to decide what materials are appropriate for minors. “I think a lot of the people that are here would say that it’s the parent’s responsibility to determine what their kids can and cannot read from the available materials. It is not the city’s job to decide what it is that isn’t available to them,” he said.

Under Library Board policy, minors 17 and under must get their application for a library card signed by a parent or guardian. The policy also states that minors 10 and under cannot be unattended in the library.

City Councilor Seth Morrisey suggested that parents should be given a choice about whether their child has full access to all library materials.

“How can we make sure obscene material does not get in the hands of minors? Is there a framework that makes sense, that’s possible to make that happen? One idea would be when a parent signs up for a library card for their kid, there’s just a toggle that they could say, my child has free access to the library or my child doesn’t. It’d be a really simple fix,” Morrisey said.

Mayor Steve Wright recommended against the City Council pursuing a change to library policy. Posalski agreed.

“Another concern to me would be, if we put some kind of policy in place, then that means there’s probably going to be problems with our interaction with Astoria and Warrenton because of our interchange of books,” Wright said. “But the bottom line to me is, I think the process works right now.”