Librarian: Efforts to ban books from Cullman library on the rise

Sep. 16—Gov. Kay Ivey has called out the practices and policies of Alabama's public library system through a letter sent to Dr. Nancy Pack, executive director of the Alabama Public Library system, bringing legislative support to the efforts of local conservative "parental rights" organizations.

Ivey mentions three libraries in the letter — the Autauga-Prattville Public Library, the Foley Public Library and the Ozark-Dale Public library — and five books that feature either LGBTQ content or characters.

"The heart of the issue seems to be the exposure of children and youth to inappropriate, sexually suggestive materials without adequate means of parental supervision," Ivey said in the letter.

Pack shared her initial response to the letter on Sept. 5 saying, "The intrinsic value of Alabama's public libraries to its citizens cannot be overstated. They are more than just buildings filled with books; they are dynamic, inclusive, and essential institutions that empower, enrich and unite our communities."

A spokesperson with APLS said the group would not release further comments at this time, but noted that the group was actively working to provide answers for questions listed in the governor's letter.

Clean Up Alabama

While the removal or restriction of books containing LGBTQ content from libraries have become a political touchpoint within conservative circles during the last several years, the epicenter of Alabama's recent debate began earlier this year in Prattville.

Prattville Library executive director Andrew Foster said he was not in his current position when the controversy began in late February or early March, and the previous director, he noted, had not been fired, but had "left to pursue other interests" two months ago.

Foster said a challenge was submitted for "The Pronoun Book" written by Chris Ayala-Kronos and illustrated by Melita Tarado, a simple language board book encouraging children to ask what other individuals would like to be called.

"That book was checked out by an individual, and then that individual learned that the book was not just about binary pronouns, but about all inclusive pronouns. It went from there and a number of other books were challenged," Foster said.

The library has received more than 100 similar complaints this year, with the overwhelming majority filed by individuals affiliated with the group Clean Up Alabama, previously known as Clean Up Prattville.

Newly appointed Cullman County Library Director, Josie Harrington, said this was a fairly common tactic for the organization.

"Part of what is going on, is that these groups will get together and fill out form after form after form, to really overwhelm the library staff and library boards in an effort to have these books removed," Harrington said.

While book challenges in Cullman County had been notably more quiet than in other parts of the state, Harrington said, similar efforts have been increasing, recently.

All of the complaints had been submitted by verified Cullman County residents, according to Harrington, but she noted that most had only recently obtained library cards.

"The forms were submitted by Cullman County residents, yes, but the library cards of these individuals are very new with all activity relating to this, or very old with no activity in a very long time, until this occurred. In other words, these are not people who have been using the Cullman library until the book challenges," she said.

Foster said that when a book is challenged, it undergoes a lengthy process which involves forming a three-person committee made up of one library board member and two library staff members. Each member then reads the book in its entirety and completes their own independent research, including news articles and reviews from both professionals and consumers, to gain a well-rounded understanding of the book and its contents before reconvening to issue a recommendation. If the individual who challenged the book does not agree with the recommendation, they are able to make a direct appeal to library board.

Currently, 10 of the books challenged in Prattville have undergone the review process in its entirety, two from the young adult section and the rest being from the picture and board book section. Foster said of those 10 complaints, only "Nick and Charlie," was alleged to contain "graphic sexual content."

"I've read each of these of these books and I truly believe that none of them, including "Nick and Charlie," have any sexually explicit content," Foster said.

All 10 complaints were filed for appeals with the library board.

Moms for liberty similarities

Harrington described CUA, as well as other local offshoots, as a type of "copy cat" group modeling themselves after the Tampa, Fla.-based "parental rights" organization, Moms For Liberty.

"There's groups following in the footsteps of Moms For Liberty, if not directly affiliated with them," Harrington said.

MFL has been labeled an "antigovernment association" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Ricky Riley from SPLC emailed the following reasoning for the designation to The Times: "Moms for Liberty and its nationwide chapters combat what they consider the 'woke indoctrination' of children by advocating for book bans in school libraries and endorsing candidates for public office that align with the group's views. They also use their multiple social media platforms to target teachers and school officials, advocate for the abolition of the Department of Education, advance a conspiracy propaganda, and spread hateful imagery and rhetoric against the LGBTQ community."

CUA follows a formula by generating book ban lists and encouraging en masse attendance to city council, county commission and library board meetings. The group also provides generated statements via monthly newsletter which it encourages members to send to local elected officials.

A number of Alabama legislators have aligned themselves with the group, most notably House Rep. Susan Dubose (R-Hoover) and ALGOP Chair John Wahl, who also occupies a seat on the Prattville Library Board of Trustees.

Ivey's letter tangentially connects the two groups by questioning if the APLS had any involvement "advising local libraries about hosting events organized by concerned parents, including any events in Millbrook or Madison?"

In August, two separate events featured the Brave Books Publishing Company. The event in Millbrook, organized by CUA, was canceled, and the event in Madison, organized by MFL, was originally canceled for capacity concerns, but was allowed to continue after the group threatened legal action.

Brave Books describes itself as a "Pro-God, Pro-America" children's books publishing company whose catalog contains titles such as "The Treasure of Cabal Island," "Little Lives Matter" and "Paws Off My Canon."

CUA executive director Hannah Rees did not respond to The Times' multiple requests for comment, but recently told Alabama Political Reporter that CUA was not officially a part of MFL and had partnered with them as well as the group LOCAL, to aid in spreading its efforts throughout the state.

Ozark-Dale

The most recent library to draw attention was the Ozark-Dale Public Library after Dale County Commissioner Adam Enfinger filed the two books mentioned in Ivey's letter, "The Mirror Season" by Anna-Marie McLemore and "Only Mostly Devastated" by Sophie Gonzales.

"The Mirror Season" — described by the publisher as a story of two teenagers discovering a path to healing after being sexually assaulted at a party — was challenged by Enfinger due to "graphic sexual depictions of heterosexual sex and rape." "Only Mostly Devastated" is alleged to contain "graphic sexual depictions and beastiality."

Gonzales responded to the complaint in a tiktok video in which she stated, "Saying that you wouldn't make out with a Labrador is not a graphic depiction of beastiality."

She provided further context in the videos caption, "The funniest part is that the Labrador conversation was a group of kids discussing how the frog prince, a fairytale for small children, is kind of messed up. The layers."

On Aug. 30, the Ozark-Dale Library Board of Trustees called a special meeting to address the issue, which drew widespread attention after Dale County resident, Adam Kamerer attempted to read several text messages he had obtained through a public records request just minutes before the meeting began.

Kamerer said he had been told by several acquaintances about text messages which had been sent to the library from Ozark Mayor, Mark Blankenship, and how the messages had left recipients feeling "disturbed." Hoping to see the messages for himself, Kamerer said he submitted his public records request to library director Karen Speck on Tuesday evening and received a response as he entered the parking lot to attend Wednesday's meeting. When he read through the conversation, Kamerer said he was "blown away."

Blankenship confirmed the messages were his with The Times by phone on Thursday, Sept. 7, but said "they were never meant to be made public."

The messages, shared with The Times, reveal a series of messages between Blankenship, Speck and board of trustees member Monica Carroll which begins with Blankenship asking what he should do to have 61 books bearing LGBT labels removed from the library in March. After Carroll suggests she will "bring the match," Speck advises Blankenship of the library procedure for book challenges.

Blankenship did not submit a challenge form with the library, but begins questioning Speck again in August saying, "The entire board and staff should resign if they can't see protecting our children is most important. I don't care what the liberal library policies say!" and "100% of my city council will agree. I hate to see the library lose funding over this mess!"

Kamerer was stopped from reading any further messages after Carroll's initial response, when the board expressed concerns about a potential riot.

"I just knew people needed to see them for themselves and understand that not only was the mayor informed of the library's process as far back as March, but that he made some really false claims about the degree to which the city council was aware of or supportive of his stance," Kamerer told The Times via Facebook message.

When speaking to The Times, Blankenship said he intentionally "put it out there a little strong" and said he never truly intended to withhold library funding.

"I knew when I threatened to take funding away, if we didn't get those books out of there it would get a lot more attention and it did," Blankenship said. "I mean it worked, but I never really had any intention of withholding funding for the library. But, I knew that's how I could get attention to it," Blankenship said.

Blankenship said that while all of the books he would like to see removed are labeled as LGBT material, his primary concern was "sexually explicit" content. He would not confirm whether he would have issues with LGBT content which does not feature sexual scenarios remaining in the young adult section.

"If it's anything that is trying to influence our children (it) should be in another section," Blankenship said. "Most of what I saw that I have an issue with, was graphic details about having oral sex, having sex with animals. There's one book that is really big on telling children when it's OK to have sex, and that it's up to them, and they have to give consent to have sex," Blankenship said.

Following the meeting, several Ozark councilmembers issued statements opposing Blankenship's stance.

"I will not be seeking to, nor will I ever vote to, defund our Ozark-Dale County public library. The government has no business censoring content in a public library. A library's purpose for existence is to provide access to information to all of its patrons. When the government deprives someone the right to receive information and ideas, they are practicing censorship. The government can't argue freedom of speech, but then dictate content. The government does not get to forcefully impose personal beliefs on individuals," councilmember Brenda Simechak said in her statement.

Kamerer said he was unaware of any direct influence from CUA in the events in Dale County, but had noticed a number of social media posts from the group supporting the mayor's efforts.

Failed compromises

As a result of the continued pressure from that group, the Prattville City Council proposed what it felt would be a fitting compromise for all involved parties. During a council meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 5, a motion was made to allow Mayor Bill Gillespie, to enter a "contract for services" with the library in order for them to continue receiving funding.

Gillespie said that a number of Autauga County residents were involved in developing the proposed contract, which he described as being "a little bit fluid" by design to allow for input and changes at the time it was voted on. He was not able to confirm whether any of those residents involved were affiliated with CUA.

"All I know is that the people I talked to were all local residents. Nobody said if they were with this group or that group and I didn't ask," Gillespie said.

Because of the unfinished nature of the contract, Gillespie said he was not able to provide any details on its stipulations, but said one requirement would be for the library to effectively eliminate the Young Adult section by increasing its age range to those 18 and older.

The motion was voted down in a 4-3 vote.

Gillespie added that during the library board meeting — which he said he was present for — on Thursday, Sept. 7, there was a notable policy change approved. While Gillespie prefaced he did not have the new policy on hand, he said that in essence it would mirror a new policy with the Foley Public Library by raising the age of unaccompanied minors allowed in the library from 12 to 15.

Attempts to reach the Foley Public Library were unsuccessful, but a notice currently posted to its website's homepage states, "All children 15 years old and under will need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian in order to check out materials from the library. Parent or guardian approval can be obtained through a phone call made from our desk phone at the time of check out. Children 15 and under will continue to be able to attend events and activities without their parents (Doki Doki, etc.). The age requirements for the computer lab will remain the same. Children 12 and under will need a parent or guardian present for them to use the computer lab."

In a newsletter posted on CUA described the Prattville proposal as a "weak" and a "watered-down attempt to protect children."

"Unfortunately, the city councilors who voted to adopt this resolution to keep pornography from children caved to the pressure of the LGBT community by not proposing a stronger piece of legislation to protect children from all inappropriate content."

Harrington disagreed with attempts to restrict content from children. She said people of all ages should be allowed access to content and information in a safe way through their local libraries.

"It is important for these materials to be available. They may be trying to discover themselves in a safe way and get the viewpoints of others who have lived these experiences. It's tragic that the ruling had to be put in place that no-one under 15 would be allowed to check out books without an adult present because that is a very important time for children developmentally," Harrington said.

Eliminating resources and benefits

Another hard-line stance for CUA, and those who share its views, is in calling for Alabama's public libraries to withdraw their memberships from the American Library Association — who they accuse of "pushing leftist progressive values in otherwise traditional communities," and removing any library staff or board member who supports ALA recommendations. This stance makes up three of the four mission points listed on the CUA website, where the group also provides a petition for supporters to sign.

In one of the text messages sent to Speck by Blankenship he said, "The entire board and staff should resign if they can't see protecting our children is most important. I don't care what the liberal library policies say!"

Unlike the APLS, the ALA — and the more local Alabama Library Association (ALLA) — is not a state or federal institution, but acts as a not-for-profit entity to provide resources and guidance for its members.

Harrington said that withdrawing from the organization would only serve to eliminate resources from already underfunded library systems struggling to provide resources for their communities.

"One of the major benefits of being part of the ALA and ALLA is the resources and benefits they provide. The ALA, for example, offers continuing education and professional development opportunities, a community of other professionals, resources on funding, grants, scholarships, and more, other resources to aid libraries in developing or implementing programs or services, aid with technical support, data on other libraries, policy and advocacy support, aid with subjects such as federal and state-level funding, and well, quite a lot more. They are a massive resource for libraries. The ALLA is similar, but on a sort of smaller and more local scale, being specific to Alabama Libraries, so that what they offer and provide is a bit more relevant to the libraries in Alabama," she said in a follow-up email sent to The Times.

Ivey's letter also accuses the ALA, which she describes as a "out-of-state" library group" — of "making the situation worse" speculating sections of the organizations Library Bill of Rights may contradict state laws.

The ALLA issued its own statement against "censorship attempts" one day ahead of Ivey's letter. In the statement, the organization acknowledged the right and responsibility parents have in guiding their children's reading choices, but said those individual responsibilities should not spill over into public policy.

The ALLA said it would continue to reject "all efforts to censor or restrict access to materials from any library, based on content."

"We strongly affirm our historic professional values of providing free access to books, resources and services for the interest, information, education, and enlightenment of all people within the communities we serve. We do not exclude materials because of their origin, background or views of those contributing to their creation. ... As information service providers, we are guided by the tenets of intellectual freedom and our ethical responsibilities to uphold the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America," the statement said.

"The benefit of a public library is that we serve our entire community, not just Moms for Liberty [or similar local groups]," Harrington said. "So these books they want to see removed, there are people who are interested in them, and if I had children that age I would have no problem with them reading these books."

Efforts to ban books at Cullman County library on the rise

Harrington provided The Times with a current list of book challenges filed with the Cullman County library, almost exclusively featuring LGBT content.

* "Lily and Dunkin" by Donna Gephart

* "Prince & Knight" by Daniel Haack

* "We Are All Made of Molecules" by Susin Nielsin-Fernlund

* "Heather Has Two Mommies" by Leslea Newman

* "In Our Mothers' House" by Patricia Polacco

* "Tiger Honor" by Yoon Ha Lee

* "Like Other Girls" by Britta Lundin

* "The List of Things That Will Not Change" by Rebecca Stead

* "Zeke Meeks vs The Gruesome Girls" by D. L. Green

* "The Best Man" by Richard Peck

* "Hurricane Child" by Kacen Callender

* "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

* "And Tango Makes Three" by Justin Richardson

"A lot of these materials these people are wanting to remove is because of its LGBT content a lot of it is not truly inappropriate, or at least no more explicit than "straight" (heterosexual) content. It's also mostly taken out of context, there may be discussions about things of a sexual nature, but it's only being flagged because it deals with these topics regarding two LGBTQ people as opposed to two heterosexual people," Harrington said.

If a complaint is found to be valid after a thorough review process, books are typically relocated to a more age-appropriate section. But, Harrington said, if those reviews determine the book should remain in its current location, local groups have found alternative ways to have them removed. She said members appear to be organized in their efforts by having an individual check out the maximum number of allowed books, while another member will do the same as soon as they are returned to keep them off of shelves and unavailable to the public.

On Tuesday, Aug. 29, Vinemont resident Shirley Arnett presented the Cullman County Library board with several book challenges. The board approved tabling the discussion until its September meeting to allow for more time to review the submitted challenges.

Arnett declined to speak to The Times and did not share the list of books she was challenging, but did send a flyer featuring the cover of "Prince and Knight" and a link to sign the CUA petition.

At her request, the petition has been signed by each Cullman County Commissioner, including Chairman Jeff Clemons, which received praise from CUA on social media. Speaking to The Times by phone, Clemons said the county commission is not involved in setting library policy past appointing the library board members. Clemons did not respond to follow-up questions as to ways the commission could offset the cost of any lost resources, mentioned by Harrington, if the library were to withdraw from the ALA. Clemons also did not clarify if there was potential for the commission to withhold library funding if book challenges were not met.