Hoopla, Overdrive/Libby Now Banned for Those Under 18 in Mississippi

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/creator of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/creator of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her subsequent e book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.

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Despite the age of consent in Mississippi being 16, nobody underneath the age of 18 could have entry to digital supplies made accessible via public and college libraries with out specific parental/guardian permission.

Mississippi has a brand new regulation on the books instantly impacting entry and use of digital sources like Hoopla and Overdrive for these underneath the age of 18 all through the state. Even if granted parental permission, minors might not have supplies accessible to them, if distributors don’t guarantee each merchandise inside their choices meets the brand new, wide-reaching definition of “obscenity” per the state. Mississippi Code 39-3-25, a part of House Bill 1315, went into impact July 1, 2023, and libraries throughout the state have scrambled for be in compliance.

The regulation states:

(1) A public library might provide digital or on-line sources or databases to individuals provided that the seller or different individual or entity offering the sources verifies that each one the sources will adjust to the provisions of subsection (2) of this part.

(2) A vendor or different individual or entity offering digital or on-line sources or databases underneath the authority of this part should have security insurance policies and expertise safety measures that:

          (a) Prohibit and stop an individual from sending, receiving, viewing or downloading supplies which are:

               (i) Child pornography;

               (ii) Materials that depict or promote little one sexual exploitation or trafficking;

               (iii) Obscene supplies, as outlined in Section 1 of this act;

               (iv) Inappropriate supplies depicting or coping with issues of intercourse, cruelty and violence in a way more likely to be injurious or dangerous to a toddler; or

               (v) Materials which are sexually oriented, as outlined in Section 97-5-27(2); and

          (b) Filter or block entry to obscene supplies, inappropriate supplies, supplies which are sexually oriented or supplies that depict, describe or promote little one pornography or little one sexual exploitation.

The definitions of what doesn’t meet the requirements above refer again to a special Mississippi code, Section 97-5-27. It defines “sexually oriented” supplies as:

[A]ny materials is sexually oriented if the fabric accommodates representations or descriptions, precise or simulated, of masturbation, sodomy, excretory capabilities, lewd exhibition of the genitals or feminine breasts, sadomasochistic abuse (for the aim of sexual stimulation or gratification), homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, sexual activity, or bodily contact with an individual’s clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic space, buttocks, or the breast or breasts of a feminine for the aim of sexual stimulation, gratification or perversion.”

Distribution of such supplies can result in fines starting at $500. Moreover, failure to adjust to the necessities would put libraries and colleges in the place to withhold cost to the distributors.

By definition, any vendor is out of compliance by merely having supplies accessible in their system which depict sexual replica or queerness in any capability. Images of nude feminine breasts–which are sometimes a part of sexual schooling, reproductive schooling, and/or biology and anatomy books written for these underneath the age of 18–could be out of compliance with the regulation.

Platforms like Hoopla and Overdrive usually are not set as much as create programs which change entry primarily based on age or various legal guidelines by municipality. Library workers are additionally unable to preview and fee each merchandise accessible inside such platforms, resulting in a place to close down entry all collectively.

It is, in fact, yet one more step towards killing public items like libraries and yet one more step towards creating programs whereby younger individuals in some states are granted entry to a world of information and sources and younger individuals in different states are shut out completely.

First Regional Public Library posted this announcement on their homepage:

Vicksburg Public Library remains to be engaged on determining how the regulation will influence their patrons’ entry to digital supplies. For now, they’ve developed a brand new system of library card distribution. Those who as soon as had library playing cards given with out parental permission at age 16 or 17 now might want to come again to the library with a guardian for authorized guardian for a card. All of these accounts might be positioned on maintain till the permissions are secured, locking entry to supplies. No one might request a card previous to turning 18 with out consent.

This transfer by the state ensures that these with the least privileges–these in unstable houses, these with out common web entry, and people with out energetic mother and father or guardians in their lives–have even fewer alternatives to make the most of public items and companies. It in flip protects the library, which isn’t in the place to find out the suitability of each e book in the library per the regulation’s definition of inappropriate.

No data was available concerning the influence of the brand new regulation on the Sora app–a part of Overdrive’s slate of merchandise–or comparable digital media platforms bought and utilized by faculty libraries throughout the state.

Mississippi will not be the primary state to radically restrict entry to supplies and place the onus of compliance with their legal guidelines on the distributors. The identical is underneath manner in Texas, and chances are high, this can imply the identical, if no more dire, lock outs of fabric entry for college students state extensive.

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