John Wahl, chair of the Alabama Public Library Service, all but said Tuesday that the Fairhope Public Library will not have funding reinstated after a Monday night vote keeping 10 challenged books in the teen section.
“The APLS Board has been clear and consistent regarding the regulations and requirements in Alabama state code concerning sexually explicit material,” Wahl said in a statement. “All public libraries in Alabama must relocate any materials containing obscenity or sexually explicit content out of youth sections in order to remain eligible for state funding. There are no loopholes or gray areas in this requirement.”
The full APLS board will review Fairhope’s decisions at its meeting on July 17, but numerous books kept in the teen section would meet the definition outlined by an APLS memo as “sexually explicit,” which includes any descriptions of nudity and sexual conduct.
The Farihope board did not determine whether a book is explicit based on that definition, which is not codified into the APLS state administrative code for libraries to receive state aid, but rather its own definition that takes the material as a whole and considers whether the intent of the material is to cause arousal.
Wahl said in his statement that local library boards can factor in “community standards” when determining what is “obscene,” but said that “sexually explicit content is clearly outlined under state law and further clarified in an official APLS Board memo. This definition must be applied consistently across all youth materials.”
Despite Wahl’s claim that “sexually explicit content” is clearly outlined under state law, when APR requested a clear definition Wahl only provided a definition from federal law that described sexually explicit “conduct,” not “content,” and applied to actual child pornography material. The code that Wahl pointed to also contained two distinct definitions of sexually explicit conduct based on differences in context.
Fairhope’s definition of “sexually explicit” is derived from the state’s definition of “material harmful to minors” which is based on Supreme Court precedent that establishes a three-prong test for determining whether material is obscene, or as “obscene as to minors.” The APLS approved the Fairhope policy establishing this definition as in alignment with the new administrative code and state aid requirements.
“Sexuality is a deeply personal and sensitive topic, and we must recognize that people hold a wide range of views on how and when it should be introduced to children,” Wahl said. “We want every family in Alabama to feel welcome in our public libraries. Parents who want their children to have broader access to materials have that ability, but at the same time, parents who do not want their children exposed to sexually explicit content should have confidence that their child will not accidentally stumble across inappropriate books in our youth sections. The APLS standards were written to reflect this balance and to respect the viewpoints of all Alabamians.”
