Libraries will close books with an age limit of +18 under the law

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Russian libraries are obliged to give out books to readers according to age marking, and books that cannot be given out to children will have to be removed from public access in the halls. This follows from the order of the Ministry of Culture, published on the portal of regulatory legal acts.

The order was signed in December 2019 by the then Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, but it was only published on July 27. It lists the rules for the issuance and placement of books by libraries that contain information that is prohibited from distribution to children. This is obscene language, pornography, justification of illegal behavior, violence and drug use, as well as propaganda for suicide.

In accordance with the order, libraries are obliged to label books by age category, as well as to take measures to "spatial isolation of children's literature collections from literature for adults." For example, books not recommended for children can be placed in a separate lockable room or in a closet out of children's reach. If the library has two or more visitor rooms, such books must be kept in the service room for persons over 18 years of age.

Libraries for minors are obliged to create conditions “ensuring the inaccessibility for children of placing information products containing the marking“18+”or with a text warning“prohibited for children.”The library employee is obliged to refuse to issue books to minors with the marking“18+”and to offer the book, appropriate for his age.

"I believe that this is absolutely correct. There is a federal law, it is necessary to comply with it. These are the books that can affect the morality of children," Elena Drapeko, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture, told the Rise of Telegram channel. And the writer Dmitry Bykov said that such a measure would only encourage the child to read.