CRAWFORD COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Through two billboard advertisements in Van Buren along Highway 59, the Republican Party of Crawford County is encouraging voters to vote Republican this November to "keep porn away from your kids in our library."
The Crawford County Library System (CCLS) — along with Crawford County Judge Chris Keith, the Crawford County Quorum Court, and the interim library director — was sued by parents in 2023 for moving LGBTQ+ books made for children to the adult section of the library called the "social section." Three mothers filed the lawsuit on behalf of their children, stating that the library system was violating their First Amendment right to receive information.
In September 2024, a federal judge ruled that the library must return books on "social issues" to general circulation. The judge ordered the library system to "immediately dissolve the 'social' or 'social issues' section." The CCLS must now move the books to "appropriate sections," regardless of their opinions.
Additionally, the judge said the library system is prohibited from "coercing CCLS staff into acting inconsistently with this injunction."
"In order for us to receive federal funding, we have to follow CIPA rules, which is the rules for internet access for children, and that prevents us from having any type of porn on our computers anywhere, because all of our computers are filtered," said Charlene McDonnough, Executive Director of the Crawford County Library System, when asked how they regulate.
"Our wireless is filtered, so the only time anyone can access porn here at the library and the computer area is through bypassing our filters, which means they are doing something illegal. We follow those same rules and guidelines for our books, because we are not allowed to have porn in our libraries," McDonnough explained.
CCLS board chair Keith Pigg said the library will not address the billboards.
"We are aware of the billboards and are purposely not going to address them," Pigg said. "We have worked hard to focus our libraries on being a resource for our communities and on building young readers. We are going to continue our important work to that end."
"I thought it was a low blow. The library is not a place for political agenda by any party" said Pigg, when asked about his personal reaction to seeing the billboards. "There's no porn in the library. I mean, it's, it's against state and federal laws for that that to be a case."
Sheila Bell with the Democratic Party of Crawford County called the billboards deceitful on Facebook.
"Democrats cannot put pornography in libraries. Republicans cannot put pornography in libraries," Bell wrote. "Neither we, nor they, have that power. It is illegal, under Arkansas law and federal law, for pornography — as defined by Congress — to be in any library in America."
5NEWS has reached out to the Republican Party of Arkansas and is waiting for a response.
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