Do public library staff in Arkansas have a parent-like duty to children visiting the library, and are they required to report suspected child abuse?
Subject
Whether public library staff serve "in loco parentis" toward visiting children, and whether they are mandated reporters of child abuse under Arkansas law.
Plain-English summary
Senator Gary Stubblefield asked the Arkansas Attorney General to clarify two things: (1) whether public library employees are legally treated as stand-in parents while children visit a library, and (2) whether they are required by statute to report suspected child abuse.
The AG's answer to the first question was no. Public schools have a long-recognized in loco parentis role over students because attendance is compulsory and the school is responsible for educating the child. A public library has neither of those features. A child can come and go, and the library is not delivering instruction in the way a school does. Individual staff members also do not assume parental responsibility through everyday interactions like checking out books or pointing a child to the children's section.
The AG carved out a narrower scenario where the analysis flips. If a library invites parents to drop children off for a structured class or program, the parents are delegating part of their parental authority to the library while the program runs. During that window, the library does pick up an in loco parentis duty for the kids in attendance.
On the second question, library staff are not on the long list of professions specifically named as mandated reporters under A.C.A. § 12-18-402(b). But A.C.A. § 12-18-402(b)(43) makes any adult who actually witnesses abuse, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation of a child a mandated reporter. So a library staff member who personally observes that conduct has the same legal duty to call the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline as any other adult.
What this means for you
Public library staff and front-line employees
You are not a child's guardian during a normal library visit. A parent who leaves a kid alone in the children's section is not transferring custody to you. At the same time, if you witness abuse, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation of a child, the law treats you exactly like any adult who witnesses that conduct. You have to report it to the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline. The trigger is what you actually observe, not your job title.
The duty does shift if your library hosts structured drop-off programs. Story-time you sit in on with a parent next to the child is one thing. A summer camp or after-school class where parents leave kids in your care for an hour is another. During those programs, you stand in the parent's shoes. Plan supervision, staffing ratios, and incident protocols accordingly.
Library directors and boards
This opinion lets you push back on the narrative that libraries are responsible for any child anywhere on the premises. Your liability posture during normal browsing hours is closer to that of a public museum or park than to a school. But the moment you put a structured, drop-off program on the calendar, you have inherited a duty of care for those specific kids during that specific window. Your written policies should distinguish between open-hours supervision (parental responsibility) and program supervision (library responsibility), and your insurer should know which programs you run.
Parents
If you drop a child off at the library during normal browsing hours, the library staff are not babysitters. They have no legal duty to keep tabs on where your child goes inside the building or to stop them from leaving. If the library runs a sign-in/sign-out program, that is different and the library has accepted responsibility for the kids in the program. Ask the library which category any specific event falls into.
Anyone with a child-safety concern
The Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline is the right reporting channel. A.C.A. § 12-18-402(b)(43) makes every adult a mandated reporter once they have actually observed abuse. You don't have to be on the listed-profession roster to have the duty.
Common questions
Q: I'm a librarian and a kid told me their parent hits them. Do I have to report it?
If the child described what reasonably sounds like abuse, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation, A.C.A. § 12-18-402(b)(43) applies. That subdivision covers any adult who "observes" that conduct. The AG's opinion treats library staff as falling into that general adult-observer category. Call the Child Abuse Hotline and document what the child said and when.
Q: A child wandered out of the library and got hurt in the parking lot. Is the library liable?
The opinion suggests not, on an in loco parentis theory. The AG specifically said library staff don't take on parental duty during a traditional visit. Premises liability is a separate body of law (was there a hazard the library knew about?), but the parent-substitute theory is unlikely to stick.
Q: We host a craft program where parents leave kids for an hour. Are we on the hook differently during the program?
Yes. The AG draws a clear line: if the library invites drop-off, parents are delegating authority for that period and the library picks up in loco parentis duty. Treat those programs as supervisory care. Keep an attendance roster, plan for emergencies, and don't release a child to anyone other than the listed pickup adult.
Q: Does this opinion change anything for school librarians?
No. The opinion is about public libraries, which do not have compulsory attendance. School librarians work inside a school, where the in loco parentis doctrine has long applied to all school officials.
Q: What if a kid is alone in the library and looks lost or upset? Can I just ignore them?
Whether the law obligates you to act and whether good practice obligates you to act are different questions. Legally, you don't owe them parental duty. Professionally, almost every public library has a "lost child" or "unattended minor" policy. Follow yours.
Background and statutory framework
In loco parentis (Latin for "in the place of a parent") is a centuries-old doctrine that lets adults who take temporary care of children make parent-style decisions. Courts apply it most often to schools, where the U.S. Supreme Court in Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646 (1995), grounded school authority over students in two factors: compulsory attendance and the educational mission. Neither one is present at a public library.
Federal courts have already applied that distinction to public libraries. In Lanier v. City of Woodburn, 518 F.3d 1147 (9th Cir. 2008), the Ninth Circuit said a public library has "an obvious interest in protecting children" but does not have "any in loco parentis responsibility for those children." The Arkansas AG cites Lanier as support for the same conclusion under Arkansas law.
The Arkansas Supreme Court's Daniel v. Spivey decision, 2012 Ark. 39, 386 S.W.3d 424, sets the test for when an individual adult assumes in loco parentis status: the adult must have "fully put himself in the situation of a lawful parent by assuming all the obligations incident to the parental relationship" and must be "actually discharg[ing] those obligations." A library employee who hands a child a book or shushes them does not meet that test.
The mandated-reporter list in A.C.A. § 12-18-402(b) runs to dozens of professions: doctors, teachers, social workers, clergy, daycare staff, and so on. Public library staff are not listed. But subdivision (b)(43) functions as a catch-all: any adult 18 or older who observes abuse, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation of a child is a mandated reporter. The AG used that subdivision to cover library staff, the same way it would cover a stranger in a grocery store who actually witnesses the conduct.
Citations
- A.C.A. § 12-18-402(b)(43) (general adult mandated-reporter trigger)
- Lanier v. City of Woodburn, 518 F.3d 1147, 1151 (9th Cir. 2008)
- Vernonia Sch. Dist. 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646, 655 (1995)
- Daniel v. Spivey, 2012 Ark. 39, 386 S.W.3d 424
Source
Original opinion text
101 WEST CAPITOL AVENUE
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72201
Opinion No. 2025-024
July 15, 2025
The Honorable Gary Stubblefield
State Senator
2542 Skeets Road
Branch, Arkansas 72928
Dear Senator Stubblefield:
You have requested my opinion regarding the responsibilities of public libraries' staff members to children. You have asked these questions:
- In public libraries, do staff members serve in loco parentis?
Brief response: No. I have not been able to locate any statute or case law that imposes in loco parentis responsibility onto public libraries or their staff during a traditional visit to a public library.
- In public libraries, are staff members considered mandated reporters?
Brief response: While public libraries' staff members are not specifically listed as mandated reporters under A.C.A. § 12-18-402(b), they have the same obligations as any other adult to notify the Child Abuse Hotline if they observe abuse, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation of a child.
DISCUSSION
Question 1: In public libraries, do staff members serve in loco parentis?
No. I have not been able to locate any statute or case law that imposes in loco parentis responsibility onto public libraries as public entities. Black's Law Dictionary defines "in loco parentis" as "[o]f, relating to, or acting as a temporary guardian or caretaker of a child, taking on all or some of the responsibilities of a parent." When children attend public school, school officials stand in loco parentis with "custodial and tutelary" authority because "[an] educational environment requires close supervision of schoolchildren, as well as the enforcement of rules against conduct that would be perfectly permissible if undertaken by an adult." But public libraries do not have the same in loco parentis responsibility as public schools because (1) attendance at public libraries is not compulsory and (2) public libraries are not responsible for educating children.
Individual library staff members would not stand in loco parentis to a child visiting a public library either. Courts will find in loco parentis when the adult "has fully put himself in the situation of a lawful parent by assuming all the obligations incident to the parental relationship" and "actually discharg[ing] those obligations." Even if a child were to visit a public library without a parent, a staff member's limited interactions would not rise to the level of "assuming all the obligations incident to the parental relationship" or "discharg[ing] those obligations."
If, however, a public library invited parents to drop children off for a class or program, then the parents would be "delegat[ing] part of [their] parental authority" to the public library when they leave their children. With that delegation, the public library assumes in loco parentis responsibility for the children while they are attending the class or program. But the public library does not have in loco parentis status when a child engages in a traditional visit to a public library.
Question 2: In public libraries, are staff members considered mandated reporters?
Any individual listed as a mandated reporter under A.C.A. § 12-18-402(b) must notify the Child Abuse Hotline if he or she suspects or observes child maltreatment. While staff members of public libraries are not expressly mentioned, they would fall into one of the general categories listed in the statute. Under A.C.A. § 12-18-402(b)(43), anyone who is at least 18 years old and who "observes abuse, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation of a child" is a mandated reporter. Thus, if an adult staff member of a public library observed such abuse, he or she would be required to report it, as would any other adult.
Assistant Attorney General Jodie Keener prepared this opinion, which I hereby approve.
Sincerely,
TIM GRIFFIN
Attorney General