Proposed Legislation in California Would Curtail Advertising in School Libraries

Staff -- School Library Journal, 3/1/1999

ZapMe!, an upstart company that supplies schools with new computers -- which permanently display rotating advertisements and links to promotional Websites -- has caught the attention of a California legislator who wants to put the brakes on commercialism in schools.

In January, state assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni, who is chair of theassembly's education committee, introduced legislation that would, amongother provisions, bar school districts from contracting for an electronicproduct or other service that requires students to be exposed to ads.

Betty Silva, president of the California School Library Association (CSLA),says that CSLA has not yet taken a position on the Mazzoni legislation, dueto be debated by the education committee in April. But Silva, a librarian atFairfield High School, is concerned about imposing funding limitations onother districts. "I would not like to have it legislated," she says of suchcontracts, "but rather have schools make their own decisions."