Publishers and library sue Idaho over book ban that defines 'homosexuality' as 'harmful to minors'; The Advocate, February 6, 2025

 Ryan Adamczeski, The Advocate; Publishers and library sue Idaho over book ban that defines 'homosexuality' as 'harmful to minors' 

"Several large book publishers and a small public library are suing the state of Idaho over its book ban that requires libraries to restrict content "harmful to minors" to patrons 18 and older.

House Bill 710, which went into effect on July 1, allows community members to request that their local library move books they claim are "harmful to minors" to an adults-only section within 60 days or be liable for $250 in damages. There is no appeal process outlined in the law.

"Harmful to minors" includes content that contains "sexual conduct," which the law defines as "any act of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person be a female, the breast."

Madison Public Library Invites Community Input for Strategic Planning; City of Madison, August 24, 2023

City of Madison; Madison Public Library Invites Community Input for Strategic Planning

"Madison Public Library leadership seeks community input through September 30 to develop a three-year strategic plan for library services. Community members can participate in one of two ways:

• Complete a short, 11-minute survey through September 30, online or at any Madison Public Library.
• Attend a 90-minute virtual feedback session, September 20, 12-1:30pm

Links to both survey and virtual feedback session are at https://madpl.org/strategicplan 

“Public input is so essential to helping us create a plan that ensures library services, collections and programs meet a variety of diverse community needs, now and in the future,” said Greg Mickells, Library Director. “We encourage everyone – from daily library users to those who’ve never set foot in our libraries – to share what’s important to them through this quick survey or by participating with folks across the city through the virtual feedback session.”

Madison Public Library has partnered with The Care Plan to guide the strategic planning process. Survey and virtual feedback session information will be anonymized and summarized, along with staff feedback, library use data, and larger national trends, to create a strategic plan that will guide library service priorities for the next three years. The final strategic plan will be shared with the public in winter of 2023."