Save Our Libraries: Save Our Libraries

Save Our Libraries

Alabama libraries are under attack.

Timeline of events so far:

On October 4th, 2023 Alabama Governor Kay Ivey issued a letter (below) to the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) Director, Dr. Nancy Pack, demanding that AL library rules be changed to “protect” children from “inappropriate content,” making $6.6 million in state funding contingent upon libraries’ making these changes.
On November 21, 2023, Governor Ivey dismissed Virginia Doyle, the APLS board’s most outspoken opponent to these censorship changes, and has since filled two seats with political appointees that stacked the board in the favor of censorship.
In May 2024, following a 90 day public comment period with significant pushback from the public, the APLS still passed the Governor's administrative code changes. At this meeting APLS board member, Amy Minton (one of Ivey's newly appointed members), added an additional amendment to the code changes that would make state aid contingent on the removal of all "obscene, sexually explicit, and other inappropriate materials" from the children's and young adult sections to adult sections of Alabama libraries. (No obscene materials exist in AL libraries. Sexually explicit is not defined and could include sex ed materials. "Other inappropriate materials" is also not defined and would likely include any lgbtq+ and racial justice materials.
The far right fascist groups, Clean Up Alabama, Moms For Liberty, and Eagle Forum have organized across the state to radically change our libraries in their Christo-Fascist image with the end goal of removing all "objectionable materials" (code for LGBTQ+ and racial justice themed books) from Alabama libraries.
As of January 30th, 2024, the APLS voted to allow their institutional membership with the American Library Association to lapse. ALA has come under attack in multiple states because the former president of the ALA (Emily Drabinski) identifies as a lesbian, member of the DSA, and a Marxist scholar in Critical Librarianship. These attacks are red-baiting and homophobic, as Branko Marcetic writes in Jacobin. These extremist groups want to legislate consequences for noncompliance, including criminal legal consequences for librarians who shelf these "inappropriate materials."
As of Fall 2024, libraries across the state are working to interpret and implement the changes outlined in the administrative code changes in order to continue to receive state funding.
In the September 2024, APLS board meeting, Alabama GOP Chairman, John Wahl, was voted in to become the next chair of the Alabama Public Library Service board.