MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Public Library Service staff advised board members Thursday not to fill a position created to help libraries comply with administrative code changes adopted over the past two years, setting up a disagreement with two of the board’s most prominent members.
Pennie Broussard, who works in the APLS human resources department, told the board she recommended rescinding the job posting without filling it.
“We really have no need for this position,” Broussard said. “The agency really has no need for this position. We have got an assistant director, and some of the duties that were mentioned for this position to do are Katie’s (Bailey) duties that she is graded on for her appraisal.”
Board members push back
Board Chair John Wahl, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, and board member Amy Minton disagreed with the recommendation. Both said they believed the position was necessary after hearing from libraries about the resources required to align with the code.
“I think putting someone in this role that could really work with local libraries, and make sure we go above and beyond, to make sure they do have someone they can lean on and a resource they can use, I think that is good for local libraries,” Wahl said in an interview after the meeting.
Opponents call it a censorship office
Read Freely Alabama, an organization opposed to restricting access to library books, also argued the position is unnecessary.
“Board member Amy Minton admitted that she intends for the ‘sole job’ of the assistant director to be to identify individual books libraries would be forced to censor or lose their state funding,” the organization said in a statement. “This creates a state censorship officer, and expands inappropriate state control over local libraries.”
APLS Director Kelyn Ralya delayed a final decision because of the concerns raised by Minton and Wahl.
The enforcement problem at the center of the dispute
Staff told the board that APLS cannot send personnel into every library to review the books shelved in youth sections. Under the current arrangement, the only way to determine whether materials have been appropriately shelved is for members of the public to inform the board.
That reliance on public complaints is precisely what the disputed position appears intended to change — and precisely why critics regard it as an enforcement role rather than a support role.
“So then, is the answer to these parents, who have gone to their local library, the answer is they come back to us?” Minton asked staff.
Fairhope as the test case
Staff members of the Fairhope Public Library traveled to Montgomery multiple times to address the APLS board about their concerns. Wahl spent about a month reading the books in question and concluded that Fairhope was not in compliance with the administrative code by keeping them in the teen section. The Fairhope library declined to move them.
Ralya said several libraries will likely not comply with the updated code. “They may be willing to leave state aid on the table,” she said.
What the job description says
APLS announced in March that it planned to advertise the position. According to the job description, one responsibility is to “serve as a point of contact in an advisory role for public libraries regarding policy and administrative code compliance.” The person hired would also monitor pending legislation affecting APLS and develop relationships with board members, staff and policymakers to advance agency goals.
“This position was an at-will position,” Minton said after the meeting. “It is not a merit position. It is literally in place to help these libraries, so no one loses their funding. We don’t want them to lose their funding.”
“That hard part is moving the books and identifying the books,” Minton said, adding that without APLS assistance, libraries may decline to move materials while continuing to receive state aid.
How Alabama got here
State libraries became a flashpoint between conservatives who argued Alabama libraries had inappropriate material shelved in youth sections and critics who said activists were targeting content with LGBTQ+ themes or characters.
In 2024, the board required libraries to develop policies limiting minors’ access to books considered sexually explicit, obscene or “otherwise inappropriate,” or risk losing state aid. In 2025, APLS amended the administrative code to bar books dealing with “gender ideology,” a term the board did not define.
The board has not set a date for a final decision on the position.