The clash over freedom to read is playing out on the Gulf coast with both sides thinking they’re right. Members of the Fairhope Library Board agreed to stand their ground over books deemed too adult for younger readers. The city’s public library lost its state funding last month when the Alabama Public Library Service board voted to deny funding over books it says don’t belong in the library’s teen section. It was the agency’s first such denial over book placement. But, the struggle appears not to be a matter of where to place books but rather who is in control.
The Fairhope municipal pier is often called the city’s unofficial town hall but it’s the library where much of the town’s activity takes place. Patrons clock a hundred eighty thousand visits each year. They check out and renew almost as many items. Despite its popularity, the Fairhope public library is caught up in war of words.
“I have always felt they were going to take the funding,” said Randal Wright. She’s the Fairhope library board of trustees’ chairperson. She was at last month’s meeting when the Alabama Public Library Service board or APLS ended an almost year long delay and voted to deny Fairhope’s funding – some 42 thousand dollars annually. Here’s APLS Chair John Wahl at the meeting.
“So this is sexually explicit material. We have full agreement. Then Fairhope is not in compliance,” he said.
At issue are 10 books written for young adults. A majority of APLS board members said the books contain sexually explicit content and should be moved from the library’s teen room to its adult section. Fairhope trustees disagree.
"We're fighting some people who were really entrenched in this idea that we are harming children by having these books on the shelf,” Wright said.
Wright and fellow Fairhope library board members say the APLS has taken its definition of sexually explicit too far – in some cases pulling a handful of words out of a book to meet the APLS definition. APLS partly defines sexually explicit as “any visual, written, or audio content that depicts or describes sexual conduct.” At the January meeting, APLS board chair John Wahl who is also running for Alabama Lieutenant Governor says he agrees some of the books have literary value.
“And I think if I have that concern it’s perfectly legitimate for parents across the state to have also have that concern,” Wahl contended.
One of those parents is Rebecca Watson. She’s the founder of the Fairhope Faith Collective – a grassroots parental rights advocacy group. Watson approached the APLS after the Fairhope library board reviewed but declined to move the books. She says teenagers should be able to use the library teen room without parental supervision.
"My child at 13 should be able to go to the library and walk around in the teen section and read any book that's in there,” Watson said.
Watson says she doesn’t want the books banned - just moved – allowing parents to decide what’s appropriate.
“I'm not saying that you know it's my responsibility to tell other people's what their children can read. I'm saying that they shouldn't be telling other people what their children should be exposed to,” she said.
Elizabeth Williams is the Baldwin County organizer for Read Freely Alabama. She disagrees with Watson and says the books are shelved where they can best reach their intended audience.
“When we start hiding books written for young people in the adult section, we are not only taking them away from their target audience. We are sending kids into the adult section to find books that are written for them. What else are they going to find there?” she said.
And Williams believes the fight is much bigger than moving books.
"This isn't about 10 books or any particular book. This is about who gets to decide. Is it trained library professionals and local boards and local communities or is it politicians and pressure groups?” she contended.
In the weeks since the APLS vote Fairhope Library Director Rob Gourlay says he’s heard from people on both sides who feel strongly about the decision.
"A lot of people reaching out and saying we really support you and we think that the decisions you've made have been with a lot of integrity and so we're we're proud of that,” he said.
Later this month library boards statewide may all be forced to make tough decisions. That’s when new APLS restrictions about gender ideology and children are expected to go into effect.
Editor's note: In the interests of transparency, Cori Yonge is a financial supporter of the Fairhope Public Library.
