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By Ian Gustafson

Upcoming changes

Local school divisions weigh-in on incoming government rules on age-appropriate books in libraries

May 28, 2025 | 3:11 PM

The Government of Alberta plans to implement new rules this fall to make sure “age-appropriate” books are on the shelves in school libraries.

The upcoming changes were sparked by four books the government calls inappropriate and were found in Kindergarten to Grade 12 school libraries in Edmonton and Calgary.

The books are described as novels but, as explained in a media release, display sexual activity, among other inappropriate content.

“As a parent, it is extremely concerning to me to find out that books explicitly depicting sexual acts are available to students in some school libraries,” said Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Education and Childcare, in a media release. “We are going to do something about this serious issue by consulting Albertans and creating standards to ensure students do not have access to age-inappropriate materials in school libraries.”

rdnewsNOW has reached out to local school divisions and received responses from Chinook’s Edge School Division and the Red Deer Public School Division.

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Meanwhile, Wolf Creek Public Schools, Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools, and Clearview Public Schools did not respond in time for publishing. We will add in their comments if and when they’re received.

In an emailed statement, Red Deer Public Schools wrote, they’re committed to fostering safe and inclusive learning environments for all students.

“Our Division will continue to follow all Alberta Education legislation regarding age-appropriate books in school libraries,” they wrote in an email, adding that none of the books the government used as examples in Monday’s press conference are in their school libraries.

The books in question includes Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Blankets by Craig Thompson, and Flamer by Mike Curato.

The province said they have guidelines for learning and teaching resources but there is no province-wide standard for school divisions to follow when choosing age appropriate school library content.

This means school divisions and boards are left to choose their own materials for school libraries.

As a result, the provincial government is asking for public engagement to collect feedback on what the standards should be when it comes to age-appropriate materials available to students in school libraries.

Those interested can take the survey, which will close on June 6, on the Government of Alberta website.

Chinook’s Edge School Division associate superintendent Jason Drent said in an interview they also do not have any of the named books in their libraries.

He explained the division is committed to providing a safe learning environment for all students. This ensures that all learning materials and resources found in their libraries are age appropriate and align with their educational goals and curricular topics.

“We support any provincial initiative that develop consistent standards for our libraries. We are obviously very interested to see what those look like,” Drent said. “I noticed in the media release that the government is asking for feedback and is wanting to consult. That’s really important for us, we really are very open to that consultation.”

Once they receive the new government standards, Drent said they will make sure they revise any of the existing library policies to ensure full alignment and compliance.

“We do exhaustive examinations of the content that’s in our spaces,” Drent added. “In particular, when we heard the announcement, we did a full review and we continue to do that. We do that on an ongoing basis. Yearly we meet a number of times with all of our librarians and we do conduct reviews of our collection just to ensure they’re aligned with new curriculum.”