California Freedom to Read Act
The Bill
The California Freedom to Read Act (AB 1825) requires every public library jurisdiction, as defined, that directly receives any state funding to establish, adopt, and maintain a written and publicly accessible collection development policy for its libraries by January 1, 2026, as specified in the bill.
The bill requires the adopted policy to be sent to the State Librarian and authorizes the State Librarian or their designee to provide technical assistance to public libraries in developing their collection development policy.
The State Librarian will accept policies via email at collectiondevelopmentpolicy@library.ca.gov. To submit your policy to the State Library, please email that address with a link to your library’s collection development policy. The State Library will use this checklist to approve the policies and will respond to you in a timely fashion if there are any necessary revisions.
Technical Assistance
State Library staff are available to provide technical assistance to libraries who need help with their policies. If you would like to speak with a State Library staff member about your policy or the bill, please email collectiondevelopmentpolicy@library.ca.gov with your request.
Example Policy
The San Leandro Public Library’s collection development policy is an example policy that meets the requirements of the bill. Section 2e of San Leandro’s policy references the California Freedom to Read Act and puts the language from the bill into the policy.