Librarians and Educators are under attack in Nebraska. LB441 would subject librarians and staff in our public schools and public libraries to criminal prosecution under state obscenity laws. We need your help to stop this bad law before it goes any further.

LB441 (2023) is expansive about who would be targeted for criminal prosecution over library books and school curricula. It would expose everyone working in our schools to jail time and costly lawsuits over anything any parent might find “obscene” - whether is it from classic literature to art books to an anatomy textbook. Librarians and library workers in all Nebraska public libraries could be brought into court over the books and ebooks in their collections. Award-winning authors like Margaret Atwood, F. Scott Fitzgerald, or James Joyce could be caught in the crosshairs of ‘obscenity’ challenges. Pro-censorship groups have already gone after books about seahorses, Johnny Appleseed, and hurricanes. Even Winnie the Pooh was called into question for not wearing pants.

This isn't speculation on our part. In January, a teacher in Michigan was nearly hauled into court over a book. In Missouri, The police have been called out to schools repeatedly about books. It isn't reasonable to make criminals out of our librarians and educators based on the whims of political parties and organizations. Nebraska needs to stand up before it's too late.

We need people like you to tell your state Senator to stop this bill before it goes any further. Please join the Nebraska Library Association, the Nebraska School Librarians Association, and EveryLibrary in opposing LB441.