HUNTSVILLE – Cindy Hewitt recently received pictures of the her 5-year old grandson dressed up like Paddington Bear for storybook week at his school.
The photos also told a story. It’s at once both happy and sad, courtesy of the retelling coupled with the possibility of HB385 becoming law if the Alabama Senate approves.
“He was so excited and proud to represent this book character he first discovered in the public library,” Hewitt, executive director of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, told 256 Today. “My daughter and her family do not live in Alabama, but whenever they visit, going to the public library ‘where Grammie works’ and discovering all the wonderful things to do and books to read is a highlight of their visit.”
However, she cautions, that could change if HB385 is approved in the Alabama Senate. On its surface, the bill promises nothing more than protection for children against obscene material. But it goes deeper than that to the point librarians could be at legal jeopardy.
“I do not know how to explain to my grandchildren that if this law passes Grammie can now get fined and arrested for working at this wonderful place,” Hewitt said. “I cannot tell the children and families who come here on a daily basis that political forces outside of their everyday existence have decided that the public library is an unsafe place for them and that the people who work here are not to be trusted.”
There’s been much ado about libraries for a while now and has become a political football nationally. Much of the controversy centers around LGBTQ+ content and men dressed as women reading stories to kids.
Opponents of the movement and of drag story time readers call it indoctrination. Throughout the U.S. some libraries have been shuttered or repurposed, books have been banned. Critics liken the movement to book burnings and Nazi Germany-like training.
The Alabama House of Representatives passed HB385, also called the “Supply Minors Bill” by proponents, with a 72-28 vote and sent it to the House.
“This is an effort to protect children. It is not a Democrat bill. It’s not a Republican bill. It’s a people bill to try to protect children,” Republican Rep. Arnold Mooney of Birmingham, the bill’s sponsor, said during debate.
Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa) told a Montgomery television station, “It’s a bad bill. It’s a bad policy. It creates bad law.”
Under the process laid out in the bill, according to the Associated Press, a librarian in a public library or public K-12 school could face a misdemeanor charge if the librarian fails to remove material or cease conduct that violates the state’s obscenity law within seven days of receiving a written complaint from the public.
“In search of just red meat, it satisfies a very small group of people,” England added in the TV report. “Subjecting librarians and educators to criminal scrutiny just for general everyday decisions that are not criminal.”
Hewitt, who oversees 11 locations in the HMCPL system, is obviously opposed to HB385.
“I am 65 years old. I have been a librarian for 29 years,” she said. “The public library is a place where anyone is free to enter (or not), where people can choose what to read (or not), where ideas, information and creativity can be explored (or not). This law, if passed, will take that away. It is as simple as that.”
Annually, the HMCPL sees nearly 1.3 million people and circulates over 3.2 million items. Nearly 100,000 people came to the library to attend several thousand programs last year, the majority of which were geared towards children and families.
“The decimation of this over 200-year-old institution would be a huge loss to our community,” Hewitt said.
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