Greenville County Library Board votes 6-4 to remove displays unless concerning 'paid holidays'

Greenville County Library System’s Board of Trustees voted 6 to 4 to remove themed displays from all facilities unless concerning “paid holidays observed by both Greenville County Government and the Greenville County Library System.”

The policy was previously approved 3 to 1 by the GCLS Operations Committee.

Of the 11-person board, Chairman Allan Hill, Elizabeth Collins, Marcia Moston, Kristen Odom, James Hoard and Gene Beckner all voted in favor. Brian Aufmuth, Kenneth Baxter, Tommy Hughes and Joe Poore voted against the policy. Bill Pinkston, Chair of the GCLS Operations Committee, abstained.

Written by GCLS Executive Director Beverly James and other staff members, the new display policy eradicates themed displays altogether. New book arrivals may be displayed face out.

“This is not what I want. It's not what libraries do. But we have been subjected to criticism from left and right and center and it's so difficult,” James said.

The executive director can remove any material from a display “if he/she determines the material is overtly political, provocative, inappropriate or not relevant to the respective holiday.”

The draft also made edits to informational postings, as only “informational items supplied or authorized by the Library System Executive Director or their designee may be displayed” on bulletin boards, foyer cases or windows.

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In April, as previously reported by Greenville News, the Board mandated a policy requiring branches to ask for permission to put up displays if they promoted certain regulated materials.

Then, in June, GCLS asked Travelers Rest branch staff to remove a display – which read “All Y’all/ It Takes a Village to Make a Library” with book covers titles like Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Tennessee Williams “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

The TR branch manager replaced the display with a Pride display from last year, which said “Read with Pride.” When asked to take it down, the manager refused.

Later, on June 26, the Board decided to give libraries a week before they remove Pride Month-related displays, at which point, Pride Month would be over.

The GCLS board then gave themselves three months to brainstorm a display policy. During that time, no themed displays were allowed.

However, the Board did not approve the new display policy without discourse. Pinkston pointed out, that after asking library staff to research, there was no other library system that had eliminated themed displays.

But board member Elizabeth Collins believes this will solve a problem: “using displays to promote a political agenda or a single point of view.”

Collins noted earlier this month that she visited a GCLS facility and found all carousels were empty except for one book regarding free speech and censorship.

“That is not a display. That is not to be encouraging patrons to engage with our materials or check them out,” Collins said. “There were no materials to check out. That is a political statement from somebody on our staff, and I am not okay with that.”

Chairman Allan Hill echoed the sentiment, stating that “the purpose of looking at the display policy was never to make it so displays would not be offensive … But the purpose of the display policy was that the library would not be seen as promoting something that it didn’t need to promote.”

“This is why we can't have nice displays because we have some people that decide they want to put up stuff that makes the library look bad,” he further said.

Other board members disagreed with the policy, which was debated for more than an hour during the meeting.

“We have an opportunity to demonstrate that people can live in a pluralistic community and engage with one another, even when they're open about the fact that they have very deeply held beliefs that are fundamentally opposite,” Poore said.

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Chairman Hill revisits filtered internet debate

During the meeting, Hill revisited the unfiltered internet debate from two decades ago.

As previously reported by Greenville News, Hill confronted former employee Tory Sherrill about the Travelers Rest library branch's “Banned Books” display. During the discussion, which left Sherrill in tears, he brought up the issue the library had regarding homeless people accessing pornography.

During Monday's meeting, he brought up the unfiltered internet debate once more, noting that allowing unfiltered internet made it look as if the "library was promoting ... for anybody to come in here and watch all types of vile things."

But now, Hill said, the library looks as if it is "promoting the LGBTQ agenda.”

Although Hill said Monday the board doesn’t hate members of the LGBTQ community, his continuous comparison of pornography access and LGBTQ materials does not sit well with employees.

“I no longer see GCLS as a safe place as an LGBTQ employee thanks to the action of our board during pride and especially when confronted directly with S. Allan Hill,” an employee said at the end of an HR complaint obtained by Greenville News after Hill had visited the library last year.

Savannah Moss covers Greenville County politics and growth/development. Reach her at smoss@gannett.com or follow her on X @savmoss.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville County Library Board votes to remove displays amid controversy