The State Duma proposes limiting access to books by foreign agents in libraries

A group of State Duma deputies from different factions submitted to parliament draft amendments to the law “On Librarianship”, limiting access to the books of certain authors. Art. 12 of the federal law (it talks about the responsibilities of libraries) is proposed to be supplemented with a clause on “providing and posting documents created by a person included in the register of foreign agents.” The amendments state that the rules for issuing books by foreign agents should be determined by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. A similar procedure, according to deputies, should apply to books by authors included in the list of extremists and terrorists. The works of such authors, it is stated in the explanatory note to the bill, are now “freely placed… on the stands and shelves of public libraries”: “Thus, authors whose activities are directed against the security of the Russian Federation are promoted and positioned.” “As a result, there was a need to introduce a rule that would allow limiting access to such documents (books),” add the initiators of the document, including the head of the Duma Committee on Culture Elena Yampolskaya (ER) and her first deputies Elena Drapeko (SRZP) and Dmitry Pevtsov (“ New people”).

In addition, the deputies propose to virtually completely limit access to the libraries of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, insisting that their collections are “stocked with Ukrainian propaganda literature.” The authors of the amendments propose to delegate the procedure for access to libraries in these regions to the Ministry of Culture. If adopted, the amendments could come into force on September 1, 2024.

We note that in the current Art. 12 of the Law “On Librarianship” states: “State or other censorship that restricts the right of library users to free access to library collections is not permitted.” State Duma deputies do not propose to make adjustments to this wording.

Alexander Voronov