Meridian Library supports your right to choose books appropriate for your own family

Recently, a small but vocal handful of individuals have suggested that the Meridian Library has pornography in its collection. This is not a unique situation. Public and school libraries across the country are facing calls to remove and restrict books based on out-of-context passages and coordinated political efforts.

To be clear, pornography has a definition. Pornographic materials, when taken as a whole, are intended to appeal to the prurient interest. Those materials lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

The Meridian Library does not have pornography in its collection.

There are more than 216,800 items in our collection, and of course not every work will appeal to every reader. The right to freely access materials, even when some individuals may find them offensive, is unequivocally protected by the First Amendment.

As an avid reader, I am incredibly grateful for these protections guaranteed to all of us by the Constitution. Throughout our country’s great history, the right to freely access information has been legally upheld time and again over the wishes of those who seek to curtail that freedom.

We support the right of parents and caregivers to choose books that are appropriate for their own families. Library policies are written to empower patrons to determine their own children’s use of the library. Our skilled and dedicated library staff love to help families connect with the books that will fit their unique needs, and they know that looks different for everyone who comes through our doors.

The Meridian Library has been a vital, vibrant, and beloved part of our community since 1924. We currently have over 65,000 active library card holders. In just the past five years, we have seen about 2 million visits to the library and 7 million item checkouts. We have also hosted more than 13,300 programs with nearly 400,000 attendees. We have assisted countless individuals in applying for jobs, making social connections, completing homework and school projects and building literacy skills.

The Meridian Library’s collection development policy outlines a formal process individuals can follow if they believe a particular item should not be in our shelves. It is called a request for reconsideration. In my eight years as a trustee, we have received requests to reconsider just four items, a mere 0.002% of the collection.

Generations of Meridian, Idaho, families have successfully navigated the library, choosing items appropriate for their own interests and values, without interference from those fearful of free thinking. Now, a small group of authoritarians seek to impose the heavy hand of government on Meridian families, usurping the rights and privacy of parents, and insisting those parents are not capable of adequately establishing and upholding their own family values. These individuals seem to believe they alone can choose appropriate materials for all Meridian families. Nonsense.

I spend hours at the library each month and have had the great privilege of interacting with individuals and families with all kinds of needs and interests. I have complete confidence in my Meridian neighbors and their ability to think and act for themselves and make choices that reflect their own values. The Meridian Library is firmly committed to the First Amendment rights enshrined in our Constitution. We will continue to vigorously defend the sacred freedom to think, and read, exactly as one chooses.

Megan Larsen is chair of the Meridian Library District’s Board of Trustees.