A ‘Modern-Day Book-Burning Crusade’ Alleged In Colorado

ARAPAHOE COUNTY – By Corey Hutchins for The Colorado Independent. “In Colorado, it’s very real. A modern-day book-burning crusade is underway.”

That’s according to Jim Duncan, director of the nonprofit Colorado Library Consortium, who has been ringing alarm bells about what he sees as, well, what he said quoted above. Specifically, Duncan is talking about a parent-led abolition effort to rid Colorado schools and libraries from content in online research databases purchased through a national contractor called EBSCO. The reason, the parents say, is because users of the databases can access pornographic material. EBSCO is a company that schools and libraries in Colorado use so their patrons can access thousands of e-books, magazines, journals, and other printed material.

In 2016, two parents in Arapahoe County said they found out their daughter could access material that was “just appalling” through her online account at her middle school because of the EBSCO database. Their concerns, as reported by CBS Channel 4 in Denver, led some schools to remove material from those databases. More recently, the parents sued EBSCO and the Colorado Library Consortium, or CLiC, which works with the company to broker deals with other entities to use its services.”

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of the parents by the Thomas More Society, a national nonprofit law firm that describes itself as ‘dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family and religious liberty,'” The Denver Post reported. “It is asking that a judge issue an injunction stopping EBSCO and the consortium from providing databases that contain pornography to underage kids.”

In reporting on the lawsuit, The Aurora Sentinel described the Thomas More Society as an “Omaha-based law firm that provides free counsel to mostly pro-life clients” and noted the in-state firm working on the case “specializes in representing churches and ministries.”

READ MORE at The Colorado Independent

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