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Bonner said that even if librarians and a library board confirm a book is appropriate, the Ashcroft rule might “give them a path to appeal to the Secretary of State’s office or use the language of the SoS rule to sue in court.”

He said: “The rule is not about making libraries shelve materials in appropriate areas. Libraries already do that. They’ve been exceedingly conscientious about this issue since before I was born. No library I’ve ever worked at or used has what a reasonable person would call pornography in any kids’ area, or what the Supreme Court has determined would be ‘obscene.’ This rule corrects a problem that only exists in propaganda.

“The rule is about forcing librarians to conform to the views of a subset of the community instead of trying to serve the whole community, by increasing the leverage of that subset and by making librarians fearful of angering that subset.”

He also has told his board that “there is no way to be safe from challenge and still be a library,” referring to library goals to offer books with various viewpoints and to serve diverse patrons.