Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Erum Salam in New York

Group suing Arkansas says book ban law seeks to ‘criminalize librarians’

Nate Coulter, executive director of the Central Arkansas Library System, in the main branch of the public library in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas on 23 May 2023.
Nate Coulter, executive director of the Central Arkansas Library System, in the main branch of the public library in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. Photograph: Katie Adkins/AP

A coalition of publishers, booksellers, librarians and readers filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Arkansas state government, over a book ban law set to go into effect in August.

Carol Coffey, the president of the Arkansas Library Association and a plaintiff in the case, told the Guardian: “Library workers across Arkansas are rightly concerned that the overly broad edicts of Act 372 will prevent them from serving their patrons as they have always done, by providing a wide variety of materials to fill their information needs, and perhaps more importantly, materials that allow each child to see themselves in the books in their library.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.