The Alabama Library Association issued a statement Friday condemning the tone of the most recent meeting of the Alabama Public Library Service board and calling on the board to withdraw a memo defining the term “sexually explicit.”
“The Alabama Library Association finds it necessary to address the Alabama Public Library Service board’s dismissive and discourteous treatment directed at library professionals and library supporters at the May 8, 2025, meeting,” the ALLA executive council said in the statement. “Several speakers were publicly reprimanded or spoken to in a condescending manner for raising legitimate concerns about the politicization of library governance, the need for consultation with subject-matter experts in decision-making, and the protection of federal funding vital to rural libraries.”
The tone started immediately at the meeting on May 8 when Craig Scott, director of the Gadsden Public Library and immediate past president of the ALLA, criticized the board’s politicization.
APLS chair Nehemiah “John” Wahl told Scott that he found his comments “offensive” and criticized Scott for not thanking Wahl for his efforts to secure backstop funding from the state legislature if federal funding is unavailable.
That wasn’t the only terse exchange between Wahl and librarians, as Wahl responded to several public comments, including telling Mandy Moore Broadhurst, then director of the Guntersville Public Library, that the APLS board represents the people of Alabama and not librarians.
“The board’s responses were often dismissive, prioritizing ideology over informed discussion, choosing to ignore the voices of nearly thirty community members who expressed opposition to the board,” the ALLA statement continued.
The statement also addresses a May 12 memo sent to librarians, including a definition for the term “sexually explicit” that the board voted on during the May 8 meeting. That memo ordered librarians to audit their collections and move any materials with content meeting the definition out of minors’ sections.
“The memo doesn’t explain the process the APLS board will take to codify these new definitions so they are valid and binding rules in the APLS administrative state code,” the ALLA said in its statement.
The ALLA is calling on the board to rescind the memo and delay any vote on a proposition by board member Amy Minton to make all materials “promoting gender ideology” deemed “inappropriate” for minors.
“Instead, we request that the APLS board properly codify these new rules by following the established legal procedure for amending the Administrative Code, as detailed in the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act, Code of Alabama, Title 41, Chapter 22, Sections 1-27,” the association said.
The ALLA also wants the APLS board to address the “current climate of hostility and spuriously false narratives targeting library professionals fulfilling their public service.”
