The Fairhope Public Library board on Monday voted to keep two challenged books in the teen section.
The two books, “Grown” by Tiffany Jackson and “Sold” by Patricia McCormick, deal with young girls facing sexual exploitation.
The move comes as the Alabama Public Library Service has asserted that the Fairhope library is not in compliance with state code requiring sections for children and teens to be free from “sexually explicit” material.
Board Chair Anne Johnson said Monday that the board was blindsided by the sudden APLS decision to withhold state aid and said she believes the library is in compliance with state code.
APLS chairman John Wahl, who also serves as ALGOP chair, has confirmed that Fairhope policies are complaint with APLS code, but said the library is noncompliant by keeping “sexually explicit” materials in the teen section despite challenges from some residents.
While the board is honoring Wahl’s request to review challenged materials that were kept in place before the code changes, the board’s decision could run afoul of what Wahl and other APLS board members consider to be sexually explicit.
The anti-censorship group Read Freely Alabama raised $46,000 for the library in under a week to replace any funding that would be lost from the state—it would actually provide funding for about 18 months.
The Fairhope library also operates on an approximately $1 million budget, making it one of the libraries least susceptible to strong-arming by the state.
