Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Author's Suit Against Libraries and Media Is Dismissed

In Egli v. Chester County Library System, (ED PA, Aug. 12, 2019), a Pennsylvania federal district court dismissed a pro se lawsuit brought by the author of a book on anti-Semitism against several libraries, and radio and television stations.  The libraries refused plaintiff's offer to present book talks, and the media defendants refused to interview him on air. The court said in part:
Libraries are not required to accommodate every book or proposed talk, but instead must determine based on their professional judgment which materials are deemed to have “requisite and appropriate quality” to occupy the limited space available. There is nothing in the Complaint to suggest that either MCLS or CCLS had policies or customs that are inconsistent with this constitutionally permissible discretion or that target certain viewpoints.
Pennsylvania Record reports on the decision.