1. United States
2. Ala.
3. Letter

Moms for Liberty (M4L) of Madison County recently released an open letter to the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) board in a continued campaign to enact extreme policies to censor our libraries and target librarians who do not capitulate to their censorship demands. To be clear, professional librarians are experts in collection development, and as detailed in countless Alabama public library policies, must take the entire community into account rather than cater to the whims of any one particular partisan or ideological group. It is an insult to librarians to threaten jobs for not complying with a political, religious, or cultural definition of "inappropriate.” Of particular concern has been the increasing application of the restrictive label “inappropriate for minors” during this board's tenure. Under Nehemiah “John” Wahl’s leadership, the APLS board has already overstepped its legitimate authority by holding library funding hostage in order to undermine the ability of local libraries and librarians to make decisions about community library content. This illegitimate power grab by the APLS must be stopped in order to protect librarians who seek to uphold constitutional librarianship and the right to read for all patrons. The continued presence on the APLS Board by known M4L supporters “John” Wahl (board chairman) and Amy Minton (District 3 member) directly threatens the future of our public libraries. To protect our libraries and constitutional freedoms, I call for the immediate removal of Amy Minton and “John” Wahl from the Alabama Public Library Service board.