Read Out Protest Against North Dakota Bill Targeting Libraries
The typical definition of a “read out” is a receipt or document that is produced by a printer or machine. However, a group of protestors in North Dakota have taken the phrase in a different direction by staging “read out” protests, a quiet way of making a statement against something. Participants bring their own chairs and sit quietly as they read whatever they choose as an example of the right to read and the importance of exercising that right. Many participants chose to read banned books as an additional statement about the importance of the availability of diverse books.
The “read outs” were held on Saturday, March 1, 2025, outside sixteen public libraries throughout the state to protest Senate Bill 2307.
The protests were led by Right to Read ND, a nonpartisan North Dakota group dedicated to fighting censorship and protecting the right to read. According to their website, Right to Read ND is a grassroots education and advocacy group whose mission is as follows:
• We believe all North Dakotans have the right to free information without discrimination.
• We will work to educate and empower our fellow citizens in North Dakota so that we can work together to protect the right to read for this generation and the next.
• We believe North Dakota library collections should be inclusive and reflect the diverse citizens of our communities.
The Friends of the Library also held a “read in” to protest the bill, which is a warmer solution and may attract more participation in chilly North Dakota!
Public libraries and school districts already have extensive collection development policies used by trained and professional staff to select age-appropriate materials for their collections. Also, North Dakota already has a statute in place as of 2024 that prohibits public libraries from maintaining explicit sexual material. However, the stated goal of Senate Bill 2307 is to protect minors from “explicit sexual materials” that a “reasonable adult” would find objectionable in schools and public libraries and to “provide a penalty” for violation of the law. The proposed statute would apply to print and digital materials. It requires that items deemed inappropriate are kept in an area inaccessible to minors, mandates that libraries create a different system for evaluating materials by age level and a process for contesting a book, and allows the state to withhold funding and pursue criminal prosecution for non-compliance. The bill also mandates a system of online filtering that is unnecessary since libraries and schools already have filters to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA.)
The proposed bill states that “A person is guilty of a class B misdemeanor if the person willfully displays at newsstands or any other business establishment frequented by minors, or where minors are or may be invited as a part of the general public, any photograph, book, paperback book, pamphlet, or magazine, the exposed cover or available content of which either contains explicit material harmful to minors or exploits, is devoted to, or is principally made up of depictions of nude or partially denuded human figures posed or presented in a manner to exploit sex, lust, or perversion for commercial gain.”
Although libraries are not operated for commercial gain, the bill explicitly states that “Where minors are or may be invited as a part of the general public” includes any public roadway or, public walkway, public library, or public school library. Funding can be withheld from any library or school district that does not comply with the statute. Libraries and school districts would be required to file reports of compliance on a regular basis.
The bill came up for vote on March 18 and was referred to the Appropriations department to discuss the cost and make a Pass or Do Not Pass recommendation. The proposed changes would have a significant financial impact on the state’s libraries and school districts. A cost analysis brief submitted to the legislature estimates the cost of making age-based filtering changes to the Online Dakota Information Network (ODIN), which supports a consortium of libraries serving many types of libraries in North Dakota with two shared library management systems. The estimated cost of implementation of the age filtering is over $1 million for the first year and over $900,000 in subsequent years.
According to Right to Read ND, there are also many other considerations.
If the bill passes, schools and libraries will need to set aside funds for litigation. There will be considerably more work that will require more staff, and there may be construction and shelving costs associated with building storage areas for separate collections.
A Right to Read ND spokesperson told Inforum.com that the bill amounts to government censorship that strips local control from libraries and school boards, allowing state’s attorneys to criminally prosecute librarians and teachers.
The House Appropriations Committee issued a “do not pass” recommendation for the bill on a 22-1 vote Friday, April 11. However, the bill passed the House 49 – 45 on Monday, April 14 after 90 minutes of debate.
The American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota issued the following statement on their website:
The ACLU of North Dakota opposes Senate Bill 2307. The First Amendment protects literary expression, even when some people find portions of the works difficult or objectionable. Senate Bill 2307 is a blatant attempt at censorship.
No one is going to agree on the merits of every book on a library’s shelf. The First Amendment’s guarantee of the freedom of speech and the right to access information has created a beautiful marketplace of ideas in our country. Each of us gets to choose what books we read and what information we access — but we don’t get to choose for other people. Doing so is un-American and unconstitutional. Everyone should have the freedom to read.
UPDATE TO THIS POST:
Sources:
https://www.aclund.org/en/legislation/senate-bill-2307
https://www.inforum.com/news/fargo/readers-hold-quiet-protests-statewide-against-north-dakota-bill-targeting-library-content
https://www.righttoreadnd.org/
https://northdakotamonitor.com/2025/04/14/library-content-bill-narrowly-passes-north-dakota-house/
