Provincewide standards coming for school library content following public feedback.
Following the discovery of multiple books containing sexually explicit content in some school libraries across Alberta, the provincial government conducted an online public engagement survey to gather input on creating consistent, provincewide standards to ensure age-appropriate materials are available to students.
From May 26 to June 6, Albertans were invited to share their views through an online survey.
Nearly 80,000 individuals completed the survey, signaling significant and widespread public interest in the issue.
The government will use this feedback along with ongoing input from education partners to develop standards that will provide school boards with clear and consistent guidelines for selecting and managing age-appropriate materials in school libraries across the province.
“Parents, educators and Albertans in general want action to ensure children don’t have access to age-inappropriate materials in school libraries,” said Demetrios Nicolaides, minister of education and childcare.
“We will use this valuable input to guide the creation of a provincewide standard to ensure the policy reflects the priorities and values of Albertans.”
Some key survey findings from the online public engagement (held May–June 2025) asked respondents questions.
A question asked, "At what age should children be able to access materials with sexually explicit content in school libraries?" and the responses were;
- Never: 42 per cent
- Elementary school (age 12 and under): 4 per cent
- Middle school (age 12 and up): 18 per cent
- High school (age 15 and up): 22 per cent
- All ages: 14 per cent
Out of the responses 62 per cent believe parents and guardians should have a role in reporting or challenging sexually explicit content in school libraries.
The most commonly selected groups for determining age-appropriateness of materials were school librarians, teachers and parents.
Among parents of school-age children, 42 per cent supported the position that children should never have access to such materials in schools.
The province also commissioned a separate public opinion poll of 1,500 adult Albertans earlier in May and those results included:
- 51 per cent said sexually explicit materials should not be permitted in any library accessible to children.
- 94 per cent said such materials should not be available in elementary schools.
- 75 per cent agreed it is important for parents to have a say in what materials are present in school libraries.
Of 196,901 online entries, 118,574 duplicate responses and 932 blank entries were removed, resulting in 77,395 usable responses.
An additional 515 responses were submitted via the French-language survey.
The summary and data are available at Alberta.ca.
Sign up to get the latest local news headlines delivered directly to your inbox every afternoon.
Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@centralalbertaonline.com.
CentralAlbertaOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the CentralAlbertaOnline app.