'Overwhelmed': Libraries say they're still in dark over province's book restrictions, related costs

Libraries in Alberta are struggling to understand the scope of incoming provincial restrictions aimed at protecting kids from sexually explicit material, fearing the effects on already strained budgets.

Efforts to extend the Jan. 1, 2027, deadline to comply with the still-uncertain demands of Bill 28 to April of next year have been rebuffed by the United Conservative Party government, said Ron Sheppard, a steering committee member of the Coalition of Alberta Public Libraries, which represents nearly all of Alberta’s libraries.

It’s a similar story with pleas for the province to help cover the costs of hiring more staff, time to review material and possibly even physical renovations, he said.

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“We have to interpret the legislation, then review our collections and how we’ll comply with the legislation, and figure it out by Jan. 1 without any extra money,” said Sheppard, who’s also director of the Parkland Regional Library System centred in Lacombe.

“If there’s one thing everyone in (the library community) can agree on, it’s turning every library model on its head.”

The new legislation passed last May builds on the province’s child access restrictions on material in school libraries containing graphic depictions of sexual acts, and it extends similar limits on who can obtain such material via public libraries.

Specifically, the bill targets material with explicit visual depictions of sexual acts, while written work designed to be a resource for educational or health purposes will not be affected.

The act calls for physical separation of the target materials — such as behind a counter, with parental approval needed for children aged 15 and under to borrow such material — but the province says no material will be removed from library collections. The government cites that last point to deny its actions amount to censorship.