The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
Nancy Pack
March 20, 2025 – MONTGOMERY, AL – the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) addressed longstanding issues with inappropriate and indecent material being placed in children's sections of the library. Library Nancy Pack was fired, effective immediately. The board also passed sanctions against the Fairhope Public Library.
Pack submitted her resignation to APLS board Chairman John Wahl effective September 1.
Board member Amy Minton then made a motion that Pack be fired immediately. The Board adopted that motion.
The Board also voted to withhold state funding for the Fairhope Public Library, which has refused to comply with the Board's policies.
The Board has been concerned for months about indecent and age inappropriate content being placed by leftist librarians in children's library books.
The conservative grassroots group, Cleanup Alabama (CUA) applauded the moves by the board.
"Clean Up Alabama commends the APLS board for their decisive actions today in holding taxpayer-funded libraries accountable," Cleanup Alabama wrote in a statement. "By removing state funds from Fairhope Public Library for failing to enforce their own policies, the board has sent a clear message that approving policies on paper is not enough-libraries must actively implement them. Additionally, the board unanimously voted to send letters to all state-funded libraries that receive federal funds, mandating compliance with the federal government's directive to remove materials related to gender identity or sexual orientation, or risk losing federal funding. Finally, after years of resistance to protecting children in Alabama libraries, Nancy Pack has been immediately terminated as APLS director. We look forward to the leadership of Interim Director Kelyn Ralya and the continued commitment to safeguarding Alabama's children from harmful materials."
"For the last two years CUA has been attending and speaking at APLS board meetings sounding the alarm regarding the obscene and inappropriate materials distributed to minors in our taxpayer funded libraries," CUA added. "Last spring, we had a huge victory when the board passed APLS code changes that would require policies to prevent materials that are targeted to minors from being purchased or acquired for all state funded libraries. Including other necessary safeguards to ensure the protection of our children. Not implementing policies would result in loss of state funding.-Today, we saw the board step up in the fight to protect our children. While most of the publicly funded libraries across the state have complied by establishing the policies, implementation is another story. We have been reporting to you and the media concerning Fairhope Public Library's refusal to implement the policies they have established, with Rebecca Watson from Moms for Liberty of Baldwin County doing the important work of leading the efforts to hold the libraries in her area accountable. And yet they refuse to protect children from obscene and inappropriate materials. Today the board stripped their funding."
CUA said that Pack's firing "was a long time coming."
Reader Comments(1)
nolanwrites40 writes:
In 1963 a Baptist deacon in my hometown strenuously objected to a new book titled To Kill a Mockingbird. He stressed that the author was a Communist. The same mindset persists today among religious conservatives, so they punish libraries by firing directors and withholding federal funds. This feels like the same book banning that happened in 1930s Germany. Moms for Liberty are also on record as objecting to classics like The Grapes of Wrath because it's too woke.
03/22/2025, 10:26 am