We have enough folks to conduct your business,
so everyone should have received a copy of the agenda in your packets.
Any
changes,
comments,
little theme the agenda approved.
With the minutes,
did anyone have any changes,
corrections,
comments to the minutes?
We took great
a second 2nd,
all right.
All right
Uh,
Brooke
Yeah,
so I am,
um,
what are you doing now.
Things,
um,
Love your library was,
um,
in a field that the foundation
had in February and they
raised 12,600,
which will go to the library to find
children's books and resources for all and brand.
Um,
and we had our board meeting today and we got that approved.
Um,
-- the -- next -- thing,
-- the board approved -- $22,000 in branch grants.
And these,
these funds will
support summer reading,
-- art -- programs,
um,
makerspace,
um,
some STEM programs as well.
So
that will be um given to the library this month.
That's it.
All right,
excellent.
Fred just in time all right.
Like to make
Really the finance report.
So
You want us to be governance first
Uh,
right,
so the a.
The auditors included here,
uh,
the report,
uh.
And that is just here for you
for over,
otherwise it's uh ready to be tested.
Um,
they have,
you know.
there
Right
So finance committee recommends approval.
We don't need a motion if it comes out of committee.
All in favor.
You ready to go anything else?
uh,
no,
no.
The
Yeah,
that'll be OK.
So for governs,
um,
now is the time for our annual meeting which is,
yes,
thank you,
Connie,
I'm sorry,
um,
so,
uh,
Kevin has served as our board chair for 2 years.
Thank you so much,
Kevin,
for your leadership.
Um,
so our recommendation coming out of governance is that our chair
beginning at the next meeting will be GW Boon the 3rd,
our vice chair Doug Martinson.
So that's our first recommendation.
The second recommendation.
Has to do with our committee leadership
and
um
so finance governance is recommending that Brad
continue as chair Carla Flip as vice chair
for governance um Doug Martinson as chair,
Renee Bartlett as vice chair in governmental relations,
Kevin Gray as chair,
and me as vice chair,
GW as chair of the board is
um advisory member on all committees.
So this is coming from govern governance as a recommendation.
All right,
we don't need a motion all in favor.
All right,
approved
and time,
are you ready with your directors?
Yes I'm gonna go and start on reporting on statistics first.
Uh,
we've had,
uh,
a little bit of a drop in system-wide circulation.
Um,
what I've noticed is about a
drop of 2.5%,
um,
since,
uh,
beginning of February,
and,
um,
we had an increase in January,
but
because we were closed for a week in January 2024,
the comparison between January of this year.
There would be
an increase because of that.
Um,
we also
have seen a decrease in our downloadables which I think
is related to the changes we've made with the Hoopla platform
and,
um,
how we put a price cap on what is available there.
So that has had about a 6% decrease in circulation.
Um,
as far as the order of the branches in circulation,
Madison is still leading,
followed by South Huntsville,
downtown,
and Monrovia.
-- So this -- gives
-- you -- an overview of the
materials that are circulating in our collection.
So the top circulating adult book is The Women by Kristen Hanna,
156 checkouts.
Don't let the Pigeon Drive the bus is still
the top circulating juvenile book with 118 checkouts.
NYA the Of it is the top title that is checked out
and highest demand with the most holds is the God of the Woods by Liz Moore.
Um,
the top circulating digital
audio book is Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarrows,
and the top circulating ebook is Don't Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nyen.
So with visitors,
we've seen um a little bit of a
change as well.
We had an increase in January of 9.8%,
uh,
I'm sorry,
with visitors,
we had an increase of 26,000 in January,
but in,
in February we've had still a little bit of increase,
but it's lower at 3000.
So,
um.
Still high usage of people coming through our doors.
Um,
as far as programming,
we saw an increase
of 9.8% for programming in January,
but we did see a 10% decrease in programming attendance in February.
As far as visitors by branch,
um,
South Huntsville leads that followed by downtown,
-- Madison and North -- Huntsville.
So I want to highlight some of the programs that have been going on in the system.
Um,
at the Community Resource fair that we had at the Downtown Huston Library,
there are representatives from 32 area nonprofits that
provided different social services services to the community,
and they saw about 130 attendees,
which is great attendance for the first time that we've hosted this.
Um,
our highest attended program in the system was the
South Huntsville Mother Goose Storytime with 214 attendees.
And there are several other programs that I wanted to highlight as well,
which is our Triana Public Library has a homeschool artist education program.
So in January and February,
they highlighted 7 artists and within those 7 meetings that they have had,
they've had over 215 art projects that they produced with the students
in special collections in February.
they had a boy scouting program,
um,
which a lot of programs are attended by adults,
but,
um,
we saw more children attend this program that
talked about the African roots of scouting.
Next is the Madison Public Library.
They hosted
author R.
Scott Duncan,
who's editor of Alabama Audubon and talked about his book Southern Rivers.
So the library has been working on our collection
review project that's part of our collection policy changes
and membership policy changes that we made last September.
And um
we launched it on March 3rd and I wanted to talk about some of the numbers and how the.
Waiver numbers are looking.
So,
um,
as far as our young reader cards,
within the last year,
there have been 10,570 that have been active
and there are about 22,000
juvenile reader cards in the system as a whole.
And um the 10,000 that you see here are cards that have had
check out that may have gone in and changed their um contact information,
so any activity on that card.
And as far as tier signups for um on the waivers.
Um,
197 for tier one,
which is 13%,
tier two is 287 at 19%.
Tier 3 is 994 at 67%,
so it's a total of about 1478
in waivers that were completed.
And in the project that we've been working on,
we're reviewing titles,
uh,
we've reviewed 3,005
titles
with total copies in those records of 12,555.
Um,
as far as the staff working together,
it's been over 2200 hours with an estimate of $59,000 that's been spent as far as,
um,
staff hourly rate.
Any questions
Questions
All right,
thank you guys.
All right,
that includes the board's business.
Any,
any new business in this right now?
All right,
you're done.
We will move to public comments.
Before we get into public comments,
uh,
and I should have said this at the beginning last time around.
Please direct your comments to the board.
Do not direct them to anyone in the audience.
Uh,
remember we're all neighbors,
so be civil,
uh,
and respectful in your comments.
This is your opportunity to speak to us,
not to somebody in the audience.
So,
uh,
Ms.
C,
you're first up.
I think I took the long way around,
sorry.
Good afternoon.
My name is Chrissy Cowen,
and I've been a patron of this library since I was itty bitty in order to read.
First and foremost,
thank you,
thank you for complying with the APLS code and doing the work,
um,
that we just saw to make it necessary to have a safe place for kids
to explore in the children's safe,
uh,
safe areas of the children's library.
I admit though,
I'm perplexed by this number of hours.
Um,
what is the staff's reasoning for locating materials?
What's their method here?
Um,
over 2000 hours,
and yet there are still sexually explicit books like Looking for Alaska,
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,
and The Books of Being a Wallflower still on the YA shelves last night.
This is a list of the ALA's top 10 challenge books from 2023,
which is the most current.
I think next month is when they'll come out with 24s.
So why did the staff not start with this list?
They have sexually explicit listed on here,
-- and two of these books are -- still on the shelf.
Um,
without
transparent insight to the review process,
and I left to assume that you're just doing them alphabetically?
That's a lot of Nyre and Hardy Boys to read through.
Public libraries were also a place of neutrality of thought and once upon a time,
but not anymore.
We've seen the push to groom and sexualize children,
and now we see a push for books that
promote and normalize transgenderism and gender confusion in minors.
Postal Madison,
for example,
has had a tremendous influx of these books in the last 2 to 3 years
with little to no balance for true mental condition of gender dysphoria.
Instead,
the shelves are filled with books like this one,
Understanding Transgender.
This is book for juveniles offers advice to teachers
to use the student's new chosen name,
end quote,
while withholding transitioning information from parents.
That's on page 26.
This is harmful information.
And this board book
Together,
a first conversation about love
is anything but loving.
This one demonizes traditional values and vilifies heteronormativity
while normalizing bearded men in mermaid outfits and wedding dresses.
There are over 190 books like these
in the library for minors,
and yet this beautiful book,
She is she.
It has over 220 reviews on Amazon,
4.8 out of 5 stars.
That's a 97% approval rating,
yet the library doesn't have one copy and it's not even on Hilock.
Can't be checked out.
So President Trump's executive order on this
matter states that federal funds will be
withheld from any public entity that continues
to push this harmful transgender agenda.
Last year,
the APLS received $3 million.
What happens when your library has these books this year and
they,
they won't get the grant.
These materials need to be weeded out
and the lie that a child needs gender affirming
care and the way that these books push it
is just a lie.
The public library needs to get out of this.
Ideology
war that is literally maiming our next generation and return to science and
the affirmation that children are perfect just the way God made them.
Uh I'll,
I'd let it go a little bit longer
because we started the timer on it quickly,
OK,
so.
We we're gonna stick to 3 minutes though.
Uh,
time salty.
So I'm talking to you today for a couple of reasons.
First,
to thank you for everything you're doing to prevent
the sexualization of children through our public libraries.
It means the world that you listen to the community you represent
and began moving adult material into the adult section where it belongs.
And I'm aware that it hasn't happened without some
sacrifices from the citizens here today and the board.
Y'all are working hard to get this stuff moved,
and we've spent countless hours standing in front of our leadership
and twisting ourselves in the knots to avoid breaking public indecency laws
when we read things that children were being encouraged to consume.
But there is what appears.
To be a well organized,
well-financed group of people determined to keep the stuff in front of children,
and we wanna make sure that our board doesn't get into
all the pressure that's being put on you by these groups.
For the most part,
I'm very encouraged with the effort y'all are making.
When I look at the books I've read books so
disgusting they gave me a grown adult the all overs,
authors like.
Now have adult call numbers,
but then I find this book,
The Perks of Being a Wallflower,
and it still shows a young adult designation.
I just wonder how many parents know what's in these books.
This one contains kids getting drunk and stoned by weed and LSD,
having sex and using hot dogs with sex toys.
When we consider how drug-related deaths in
my kids have skyrocketed in recent years,
we realize this is not just in talker,
it's dangerous.
It's a really sad commentary that at first I wasn't even gonna talk about this one.
At least I reasoned to myself.
This kid's book doesn't have instructions on how
to get on Grindr and hook up with strangers
or how to carry out just about every sexual fetish there is,
or how to develop characters who drink the menstrual blood of teenage girls.
But it's still no good.
How the descriptions of how fun it is to get loaded and have sex help kids.
And it's a shame because otherwise this is a really sweet book about
good friends and family helping a mentally ill 15 year old to heal.
I'll never understand why these authors of books meant for kids
feel the need to ruin a good thing with a
bunch of unnecessary stuff that kids shouldn't be reading.
Another example of this is a book called Melissa by Alex Gina.
It's about a 4th grader who hates his body so much that
he can't stand to look at his own penis in the bathtub.
Kids will read this book and interpret any discomfort they feel with their bodies,
which is a common complaint of anyone to grow their bodies as a gender
dysphoria and be encouraged to undergo non-reversible
treatments with permanent physical and mental repercussions.
The hormone treatment suggested in this book,
which are the same chemical castrtors given
sex offenders as part of their sentencing.
Cause permanent damage to the developing body,
such as osteoporosis,
sterility,
and loss of all sexual drive.
These treatments have been banned in many European
countries as more long-term studies come in.
Children should not be making decisions that will turn them
into permanent medical patients for the rest of their lives
at any time before adulthood.
In a time of suicide and self-loathing among young people or through the roof,
is this a wise topic to be introducing to kids?
The books I described above would still be available to children if our
citizens hadn't noticed them and fought for years to get them moved,
with the exception of Melissa,
which was recently moved but into YA,
not adult.
So the second reason I'm here today is to let
everybody know that we're not going to get complacent.
There's too much at stake.
We have to stay vigilant.
Thank you.
Susan Stewart.
I was very like
Hey,
good afternoon.
I'm Susan Stewart.
I have a couple of concerns I want to talk about today.
Prefaced by saying that by their very design,
the code changes by the APLS board have a
disproportionately negative effect on low income library patrons.
During a subcommittee meeting of the APLS board last summer,
I heard one of the committee members say it's not censorship.
Parents can always buy these books from the bookstores.
That statement shows either profound ignorance or indifference.
I don't believe that the speaker really thinks that
all parents can just go out and buy books.
I think they just don't care.
This elitist lack of empathy for the struggles
of parenting on a low income is sickening.
It also shows that removing books entirely is their real goal.
So
my first concern is I hope that Hunsvill Madison County Library will do what
it can to lessen the outsized impact on children and teens with human resources.
What can be done by teenagers who can't check out
laptops and whose parents can't supply one for them?
Why should these kids have to bear the brunt of the harm caused by the changes?
And regarding the waiver system,
even for the more privileged parents who have the luxury of time and resources,
it's been hard to get the word out about waivers.
What about the kids whose parents are barely keeping it together,
raising a family while working two or three jobs,
the burden of having to figure out the waivers is not.
Priorities
Second thing I want to address is that things are only getting worse.
Let's not delude ourselves that this stuff and moving books,
and we just heard our local Moms for Liberty
says that the new what is a woman bill combined
with President Trump's executive orders required that books about
transgender people and issues being removed from libraries entirely.
We can't expect any relief from the APLS board.
In fact,
the board will be further stacked with bigots and book
banners when Cassandra Stevens is sworn in this week.
She started the ball rolling at the North Shelby County Library.
when she complained about a small pride display.
That story ended with her as chair of the library board
and the policies that restricted children's access to age appropriate material.
Also,
President Trump has issued an executive order calling for the
elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
That's another $3 million in IMLS funds lost to Alabama libraries
no matter how much they try to follow the APLS rules.
So I say it's time,
it's time to start thinking about how to keep our.
Libraries open during these 21st century dark ages.
It's going to require a lot of money,
and I don't have any answers,
but there are a lot of really smart people on this board and in the community,
so I hope there will be some conversations about how to fund our
libraries without any state or federal money if it comes to that.
That would have also the benefit of not having to further you wrote library services
by having to comply with the next atrocity handed down by the APLS board.
Thank you for your time.
To someone
So are we allowing clapping or not?
Because we were being respectful and clap for our speakers.
-- I just wanted to -- clarify for you before I get started.
Can we clap though?
Is that OK?
Gladly,
thank you.
So my son is really into sports now.
He's experimenting with different ones.
Um,
my son came to me,
said,
hey mom,
I wanna try this sport.
It looks really cool.
I go,
OK,
let's see the world.
And let's say upon researching this sport,
I find out
that 41 to 59%.
of participates in this participants in this sport
-- will -- die.
Do you think I'm going to enroll my son
into that sport?
The answer is absolutely not.
What same parent
would.
So why do we
not treat the same type of common sense with trans ideology?
I'd like to ask.
Um,
it's just,
it's just not cool.
It's not OK.
Right.
Trans ideology,
gender ideology
is not only dangerous,
but it's deadly.
So,
and before you come at me and say,
oh,
it's because of people like you who don't accept them,
that
that's the reason why they commit suicide that has been debunked.
The majority of the suicides that
happen amongst those with gender dysphoria happen
about 8 to 10 years after transition and in a society where
trans is celebrated,
yeah,
we're seeing that the statistic is
really becoming sinister.
Um,
that's the reason why Trump has the executive order 14168.
About gender ideologies,
um,
also to emphasize,
um,
the data
with trans ideology,
the University of Texas just dropped a study that was done about a month ago
and basically
it stated that those that transition were more suicidal
after the transition
than before
so this is a serious,
serious
issue,
um,
just to make sure you understand the executive order includes you.
You are a federal institution.
So these materials need to be removed,
not just in the kids section,
but removed entirely
from the library.
Let's talk a little bit about the history of gender ideology.
The father of gender ideology is John Money.
Do you know who John Money is?
He's a disgusting human being who experimented on children.
Specifically in the 60s,
he experimented on a set of twin boys.
One who had
a botched circumcision.
So he went to the family
and in their desperation,
they followed him and they
transitioned him,
David Reimer,
into a girl.
Um,
it was tragic and disgusting because there was sexual abuse.
Um,
John Money photographed actually the twins engaging in
um sexual acts and eventually when David Reimer.
Um,
became a patient.
He understood what had happened to him.
He was completely disgusted.
He
transitioned back to a boy,
um,
and then tragically
he committed suicide.
And not only did he commit suicide,
but his twin brother committed suicide as well.
So we can come to the conclusion that trans ideology is not only dangerous,
it is absolutely deadly.
Get it out of our libraries,
get it out of the.
We don't want it here,
and
Trump gave you an executive order to make sure that that happens.
-- Thank -- you.
No.
Doctor Olson.
I
I live in Huntsville and a friend of the library,
a mom of a book loving.
proud member of the LG
community.
Today is a turning point in our five for public libraries.
Over and over again we've been told two things by the book being crowd.
One,
that they just wanted sexually explicit materials out
of the children's section of the library,
and two,
that they weren't asking for books to be banned,
just to be moved out of the children's section.
We now have confirmation that that was never true.
Over the last 18 months,
we have said over and over that they were war and distorting their real agenda,
saying that they just didn't want 2 year olds to
toddle up the bookshelves and grab something I've seen,
which wasn't even happening.
S
So that the library was
in the children's section also is never true.
Does an age old.
our country to create
about something that is not a threat,
targeting members of a marginalized community to do so in order to
on the surface look like they are to the benefit of society,
but in fact
of unfounded fears
to gain more control,
to further marginalized targeted communities
while strangling vital public institutions
until they can shake them into their warped vision.
The LGBTQIPOC,
and disabled communities are no stranger to this targeting,
and libraries like schools and bathrooms and sports and space
camp have just become the latest stage for this performance.
And this performance will always be first enacted on
youth and then expanded to all of us.
At the end of February,
this was confirmed as bumps for Liberty launched a campaign across our state,
mobilizing their followers to document any materials in their local libraries
that promote transgenderism.
The sent to the state library board
saying these materials violated Trump's anti-trans executive.
The recently passed what is a woman bill in the Alabama legislature,
pushing for their removal,
as we have just seen across the entirety of the library,
even in the adult section.
This is book banning.
I'm coming to ask the board to do is to take the
time to develop a plan to protect the right to read now
before this gets any worse,
and that means making a plan to move away completely from state and federal funding
that is blackmailing you all into compliance
with the ever expanding targets of censorship.
It is time for the city of Huntsville,
the city of Madison,
the county to step up and fully fund our libraries to be independent from this.
Other libraries in Alabama have done this,
and it can be.
I know as a board member,
your job is to do all you can to protect this institution,
but if we keep giving into this ever expanding fascist.
Libraries,
there'll be no library left
at the end of the day to say thank you.
It's not a competition to see who can fight them.
Melanielos.
Been here a couple times before.
I also go to my stuff
as always I'm gonna think you guys would be.
It's not fun,
but I have to sit here and listen to that stuff because it's time.
One of the things that I've said
in most of my speeches is that diversity needs to not only be tolerated
and accepted,
but it needs to be celebrated,
and I love the fact that you brought up that we are all neighbors
and for people to be focused
on individuals that are not of their concern,
it's very bizarre.
I was raised on this.
I'm pretty old,
Mr.
Rogers.
We're all neighbors
and everyone's different and in some times with about everyone,
they're not the same and that's what's wonderful about them
and we can go on and read that.
This is one of the books when I first got involved.
We are all welcome here.
For anyone to find this book
disturbing in any way
that shows beautiful depictions
of different nationalities,
different gender,
like,
there's no point in that.
And
for people to expect blind allegiance.
In their what they think is moral authority only further pushes
to marginalize people and it's dangerous
and
I feel like people,
when you
try to embrace love
you're often taken advantage of but that's something
I've tried to focus on most of my life
is being a person that shows up
and
shows people that
they're loved.
I try to make an effort.
I try to make people feel seen
and I don't think there's really
anything wrong with the math is to show people that they're loved
no matter
who they love.
The color of their skin,
how they worship,
we love them all.
We're all neighbors.
We do not need to be all the same.
What a terrible world that would be
and I
in diverse times
we do have to love anyway,
but we can also love them from afar.
This is,
it's ridiculous that we have to keep entertaining this
over and over again
and polluted hearts.
Actively perpetuate
and stoke
the division
of malicious intent
for our neighbors
and it,
it's pretty exhausting
and we don't owe hate hateful people unity.
And
I think that that's something that
I know the board you have to listen to everything,
but you don't have to
go through all of these demands.
They're ridiculous
and most of the people believe that they're ridiculous.
This is not popular.
It's terrible that we are doing this,
especially for the trans community and all
of the members that they're looking after.
Thank you.
Julia Harrison.
Yeah
I think I've witnessed recently that broke my heart.
At first it might seem relevant to the board or anyone listening in this room,
but I promise you it has everything to
do with the ongoing debates surrounding our libraries.
A few days ago,
I took my niece.
The downtown branch.
She's a preteen now,
um,
right at that age where the world starts getting complicated.
In many ways,
she reminds me of me.
She's energetic and full of imagination.
She loves love stories,
she draws mermaids and theories,
and she wants so badly to be safe and accepted.
Also like me,
she's being raised with strict.
On her media consumption.
In her world,
God is watching
and her safety hinges on how good she is,
how sweet and clean
she keeps her mind at heart.
I took her to the kids section.
Watching how she moves through it felt like looking through a wormhole 22 years ago.
She was afraid.
She would look at the.
For reassurance before taking a book off the shelf.
If she saw the slightest thing that offended her sensibilities or seemed too weird,
she would put it back.
Where I as an adult,
saw a landscape full of possibilities and beauty and color,
she saw a minefield,
or a pit of snakes or the safe ones and famous ones.
Out of all the books in the kids section,
-- we walked away with -- 11.
I failed to understand how anyone could call back.
These are books,
books,
not people themselves,
but their ideas and beliefs.
Why should it be so frightening to hear the thoughts of people outside
the Christian bubble?
I don't understand.
I especially don't understand why the library
system is now reinforcing that mindset,
possibly.
where it didn't exist.
That little girl doesn't have to be right,
whether it's the human body
or other religions or other lifestyles.
She can walk through this world with her eyes open
and her heart full of wonder.
She can make the choices that are right for her
while respecting the right of others to make their own.
I want that for her
so badly.
More than I can say.
Thank you.
Maggie needs this.
Just this.
stay up there.
Yeah.
You're you're reading.
Yeah,
I'm reading the statement for her since she was ill.
Good evening members of the board.
On Sunday,
March 2nd,
we held a funeral for the right to read at Big Spring Park.
A member of our community made a coffin where we placed books.
We had tombstones in a dirge playlist
and stood together mourning what was being taken from us,
the books,
the stories,
and the very existence of LGBTQ people in our libraries of all places.
My teenagers helped me make the tombstones.
Excited to be part of something that mattered.
One of my kids asked to speak.
Two of them wanted to be pallbearers carrying
the symbolic weight of what we are losing.
At the last minute
they were prevented from coming,
not allowed,
and that
is exactly what these book bands are designed to do,
eliminate silence,
erase,
Moms for liberty,
clean up Alabama.
And sexualizing kids and KIV are trying to protect the children.
This is about removing them from public life.
When you ban books with LGBTQ characters,
when you push them into restricted sections and limit who can access them,
you're sending a message loud and clear.
These people are obscene.
These children's existence is obscene.
And then we wonder why so.
Among OG
Youth are so high.
38% of these youth
Seriously considered suicide in the past year.
a non-binary youth,
the numbers are even worse.
41% considered suicide.
11% detected it.
These kids are more than 4 times as likely to attempt suicide
as their
hemosexual peers.
This is not an accident.
It is a deliberate system of erasure.
The same kids who helped me with those tombstones and used to
gather at the library every week to play Dungeons and dragons,
they don't go anymore.
They don't feel safe in a place that should belong to everyone.
A library should be a sanctuary,
a place where every child,
every teenager,
every reader can find themselves on the shelves.
Instead,
it has become a battlefield where only
are allowed to exist.
I'm here tonight to tell you we see what is happening
and we will not let it stand.
This is not just about books.
This is about who gets to belong,
who gets to be safe,
who gets to live.
You have a choice.
Either you stand on the side of inclusion of freedom of life itself,
or you stand on the side of erasure and harm.
We will not let them be erased.
We will not let you look away.
All right,
that concludes our public comments.
Uh,
our next meeting will be May 20th at
4 p.m. at the downtown Huntsville Library branch,
and we will stand adjourned.