How book challenges are affecting the Autauga-Prattville Library
By: Makenzie Martin and Alexis Stafford
The Autauga-Prattville Public Library is under attack as book challenges are calling for the removal of LGBTQ+ material, which can have detrimental effects on the community’s accessibility to information.
Prattville parents have been striking down the Autauga-Prattville Public Library (APPL) with claims that certain materials are inappropriate for minors to have access to. This all began when a local mother, unknowing of its content, permitted her son to check out The Pronoun Book by Chris Ayala-Kronos and Melita Tirado. The children’s book has a very simple premise: when you meet someone, ask how they would want you to refer to them as. Upon discovering this, she was utterly shocked that her son had read this book that was the narrative to respect different identities when she was under the impression that it was an introduction to pronouns as they apply to English grammar. The news about this situation spread rapidly, building up momentum for others to start investigating and protesting against several books found on the shelves of their local library.
Some citizens started off with a list of six books, The Pronoun Book being among them, that they deemed were ill-suited to be in the library where children could easily have access to them. They were instructed to fill out a request for the reconsideration of these books; the lengthy process of this includes each book being reviewed by three people on the committee to see if their claim held any merit and then voted on to decide whether the books stay in their original place, moved to a different section or removed from the library altogether. The decision came back saying that the books were to be moved behind the circulation desk of the main library. This is completely out of reach for patrons, making it to where someone would have to ask a staff member to get it for them if they wanted to check it out. Little did Prattville citizens know, this was only the beginning of a month-long strife surrounding book challenges.
Traction surrounding this conflict piqued a lot of people’s interest from both sides. The Prattville City Council holds semimonthly meetings where citizens can attend and speak on things going on in the community—the book challenges being a key issue. What started off as six books has now evolved to more than 80 books in APPL’s catalog that now have to go through the same reconsideration process. People from both sides of the issue continue to show up to each city council meeting to voice their opinions on whether these books should be removed or kept in the library. However, some are going as far as demanding that the city council defund or even completely shut down the library, which a lot of people have been very vocal on social media about how this is taking it to an extreme.
In mid-September, the Library Board started implementing a new policy that would require anyone 15 years old or younger must be accompanied by an adult at all times; without supervision from an adult, the child would be allowed to roam the library by themselves, much less checking out a book without parental approval. This policy is meant to alleviate the challenges as it requires parents to have the final say as to whether their child can check out certain materials, meaning they need to be thorough with reviewing its content.
On November 3, Clean Up Alabama, a group demanding that measures are taken against the library for having inclusive books on the shelves, hosted a roundtable in Prattville. Several people interpreted that as it was going to be an open discussion from both sides of the issue, however, it was set up more like a panel. During this event, the panel members repeatedly referred to books with LGBTQ+ content as “pornography.” One even said he would prefer the library had access to Playboy magazines rather than the books there on that subject matter.
The library has been a crucial resource in Prattville that provides the community with access to hundreds of books, movies, programs and technology. Especially since a few months ago when the only bookstore in town closed permanently, the library is the only place that the general public can rely on for a wide range of these materials. So far, the issue does not seem to be slowing down any time soon. While the topic of book banning is not by any means new, it is the first time the community is starting to see its effects on a local level. People are starting to realize suddenly that this is not a problem that can be ignored any longer; this controversy is acting as a catalyst for what can potentially be a slew of serious long-term effects.
Book banning is not at all a recent issue; in fact, examples of censorship date all the way back to 259 B.C. when Shih Huang Ti, the Chinese emperor during this period, burned all of the books in his kingdom to make it appear that history began with him. Even though two millennia have passed, the motivation behind it stays the same—to control a narrative. Leading up to World War II, burning books was an indication of the Nazi regime’s anti-semitic and authoritarian agenda as they severely depleted the amount of information that was accessible in Germany. Among the targeted books included those written by Jewish authors as well as topics that did not align with Nazi ideals, such as communism and social justice. The removal of these materials can be harmful as its motivation is typically to reduce the amount of public information on certain topics.
The American Library Association (ALA) has been keeping track of how many demands they see each year for books to be removed from libraries. Their reports show that the number of demands has risen from 729 book challenges in 2021 to 2,571 in 2022, and it can be assumed that number will increase again for this year. The main topics that are under fire in these recent book challenges include issues surrounding race, history, sexual orientation and gender. Most parents who oppose these topics being available in public or school libraries mainly use the argument that books within these categories are unsuitable to minors as they contain sexual content or sensitive subject matter.
Out of the 51 states, Alabama is currently ranked 43rd in terms of average literacy rates. The national indirect literacy average score is 264 whereas Alabama’s comes in at 259. Having the state’s average literacy being five points lower than the national average is monumental when considering 24 states are within the 270 range. This difference in points is evident in Autauga County elementary school-aged children where 13% of students are below their reading level by their completion of third grade. These students fall into the statistic of 20% of students at risk of being held back due to their lack of progress in the reading level. Elmore County elementary students are calculated as 54% proficient or above proficient in reading level while Autauga County is averaged as 50% proficient or above. Montgomery County has 62% of elementary students being proficient or above in reading.
Alabama being affiliated with conservative viewpoints shows many similarities with the state of Texas. Texas has banned the most books out of any other state so far. The Lone Star State began book removals in 2021 where more than 800 books were banned. These removals allegedly contributed to the decrease in Texas’ reading score from 256 in 2019 to 254. Wyoming is considered another conservative state. More specifically, Campbell County, where former President Donald Trump received 69.9% of his votes in the 2020 presidential election. Campbell County Public Library withdrew from the American Library Association (ALA) the first week of September 2023. This allows the county to remove any books they deem necessary without approval from the ALA. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, another conservative state, stated in a press release that Florida has not banned any books and that the subject of banning books is a “hoax” in the state. However, more than 170 books have been removed from various school libraries. These removals have caused Florida to drop five points below the national average literacy rate.
Dr. Lee Farrow, an author and going on her 25th year as a history professor at Auburn University at Montgomery, has done extensive research into the topic of the Autauga-Prattville Public Library’s challenge of book banning. Dr. Farrow believes that providing an unrestricted, book-filled library is important in allowing the people in a community, regardless of socioeconomic class or other contributing factors, the opportunity to form a deeper personal development. “There are a lot of families who cannot afford to buy lots and lots of books but the public library offers them a way of accessing tons of information for free,” said Dr. Farrow.
The issue of personal development being restricted is very similar to educational elements being removed as well. “Having that access to books fosters a love of learning and certainty is a nice balance to the electric devices that everyone depends on so much these days,” said Farrow. Alabama students, specifically those who live in small towns, can only rely on books to learn about different people and ideas. “If you live in New York City, you encounter different people and cultures just walking down the street. When you live in small places, that exposure to the world can come through books. It can come through the internet also, but the internet is way scarier than anything in a public library,” said Dr. Farrow.
If book banning continues, Farrow fears it may unlock a “Pandora’s Box” of issues not originally thought about. “It’s giving permission to say ‘we don’t like those people. We don’t like the way they behave. We think that their lifestyles are abhorrent, and therefore we are going to remove these books,’” she said.