Copies of “That Librarian,” written by Amanda Jones, a school librarian from Louisiana, are displayed at New South Bookstore in Montgomery on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. Jones spoke to a group about facing harassment after publicly opposing restrictions on library content. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector)
Amanda Jones, a school librarian and educator for more than two decades in Livingston Parish, Louisiana faced harassment and threats after speaking out against censorship at a July 2022 meeting of the local library board. As Jones tells it, she faced memes accusing her of want to give pornography and erotica to young children.
“They put my face on these memes and circulated them all around our community,” Jones said in an interview Saturday.
The harassment continued for weeks until Jones had enough and decided to respond. First with a lawsuit, then with a book titled “That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America” that details what she experienced for the more than two years after she first spoke out.
“As I was writing it, I also wanted to explain how libraries work, and I also wanted to explain that what was happening to me was not unique, that it is happening to people all across the United States, so I write about a lot of different areas in the United States, and the librarians that it is happening to,” she said.
Jones spoke Saturday at The New South Bookstore, an independent bookseller and former publishing company located in downtown Montgomery.
Attempts to restrict book access have also erupted in Alabama. In Prattville, a long-running battle over access to children’s books led to the dismissal of the local librarian and a federal lawsuit. Libraries in Fairhope, Ozark and Huntsville have also faced attempts at restrictions.
“With how librarians have been treated, there are two sides to the story,” said Andrew Foster, the former chief librarian for the Autauga-Prattville Public Library, who moderated the conversation with Jones at the event. “In any case, it is not OK to have attacks and some of the things that Amanda has gone through, and other librarians have gone through. One of the first things to know about is awareness of the situation, and awareness of both sides of the situation so that informed decisions can be made.”
Jones’ ordeal began with the statement she provided to her local library board after some in the community sought to restrict books identified as having adult themes. Jones said that censorship “is harmful to our community, but will be extremely harmful to our most vulnerable — our children.”
“The citizens of our parish consist of taxpayers who are white, Black, brown, gay, straight, Christian, non-Christian — people from all backgrounds and walks of life, and no one portion of the community should dictate what the rest of the citizens have access to,” Jones said during the board meeting. “Just because you don’t want to read it or see it, it doesn’t give you the right to deny others or demand it’s relocation.”
Jones alleged in a lawsuit filed August 2022 that Michael Lunsford, the executive director of Citizens for a New Louisiana, a nonprofit that seeks to restrict access to library materials it deems inappropriate for children, began accusing Jones of promoting pornography and erotica to children.
An attorney representing Citizens for a New Louisiana and Michael Lundsford declined comment on Monday.
The posts prompted other comments.
‘“Pedophile, groomer, sicko, pig, I need to be purged, I need to be slapped, wait till I get a hold of her, that kind of stuff,’” Jones said of the comments. “Like hundreds, and people who I grew up with.”
At first, the comments stunned Jones.
“The weekend I was targeted, I cried until my eyes swelled shut and I couldn’t see anymore,” Jones said. “About a week later my sister said to me, ‘They messed with the wrong one because you are going to come out of this.’ And then I remembered who I was, that I was stubborn. I got pissed off, I started to rally the troops, and I started to fight back.”
A lower court judge dismissed the lawsuit in March 2023, ruling that the statements that Lundsford made did not amount to defamation because they were opinion. Jones has appealed the decision to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
Similar restriction attempts have occurred in Alabama.
In Prattville, the controversy began in 2023 when a parent borrowed a book from the children’s section that contained inclusive pronouns other than male and female. The parent expressed her concerns to other parents and the situation escalated, with like-minded parents attending Prattville City Council and Autauga County Commission meetings to complain about the materials found within the library.
A new library board appointed by the Autauga County Commission voted earlier this year to restrict the type of materials that staff could allow as part of its circulation.
The restrictions targeted those that the board members believed contained sexually explicit material, but also materials that targeted vulnerable populations, such as LGBTQ+ groups.
Opposition groups formed, including Read Freely Prattville that eventually became Read Freely Alabama, and have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the policies on free speech grounds.
Foster, removed from his position, also filed a lawsuit in county circuit court that was eventually settled.
Under pressure from Gov. Kay Ivey, the Alabama Public Library Service modified its administrative code to mandate that libraries adopt policies to ensure they do not have inappropriate materials within the children’s section.
Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Indian Springs sponsored that would apply criminal statutes related to obscenity to public libraries, school libraries, and education personnel working in them.
The session ended before the Legislature could act on his proposal, but Mooney refiled the bill for the 2025 session. Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, also prefiled a bill that did not pass during the 2024 session that allows city council members and county commissioners to terminate members of any library board with a two-thirds vote and appoint new members to four-year terms.
Jones said similar bills have been filed in Louisiana.
“We had HB 777 that, had it passed, librarians who attended American Library Association conferences, they are professional conferences, could serve up to two years hard labor in prison,” Jones said to attendees. “That was an actual bill that my former friend filed, who is a state legislator, and it was nicknamed the ‘Amanda Jones’ bill.”
Similar legislation and other movements have been forming in states, which started in Florida but has also taken hold in Texas and as far west as Utah.
“I found out about Ms. Jones when I was on Amazon a few months ago,” said Lacie Sutherland, the former cataloging and acquisitions librarian for the Autauga-Prattville Public Library. “This is literally my story. I preordered it that day. I have been her biggest fan ever since.”
Jones told attendees that defending library books required empathy.
“First of all, we cannot act like people who are banning books,” Jones said. “We cannot go to meetings and scream at people and call them names. I have been told, ‘I am going to hell, God is going to wrap a millstone around my neck and drown me, I need to be shot, killed, purged.’”
The second takes advantage of community.
“There is an ecosystem, where you have the academic librarians, and the public (librarians) and the school, and the parents, and the student activists, and we all have to work together,” Jones said. “It is going to take all of us. We saw that last year in the Legislature. We had nine anti-library bills in the Legislature, nine. We defeated all but one.”
Jones continues to respond to the efforts of those who want censorship, to those who want to ban specific books meant for marginalized groups and communities of color.
“My daughter is 17, so she doesn’t see it yet,” Jones said. “But I am hoping that when she is 25, 30 or 40, something good that will come out of this is that she will say, ‘My mom is on the right side of history.’”
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