SPRINGFIELD — The most popular area of this library branch is the children’s section. Toddlers crowd a corner for story time. New and developing readers sit at tables and flip through “big kid books” and choose-your-own-adventure novels. Teens browse the stacks for research material for school projects.
Nothing about the activity at the Springfield Library appears controversial. This branch of the Savannah-based Live Oak Public Libraries serves a largely rural part of Effingham County. Library regulars are predominantly white, middle-class Georgians who value the branch’s services and programs.
Yet for several weeks now, the library has doubled as the latest battleground in the culture wars being waged over LGBTQ-themed books. As has happened in communities across America over the last two years — from the Louisiana bayou to the Shenandoah Mountains and from Michigan to Montana — opponents of LGBTQtitles in Effingham have been expanding the debate over what materials are appropriate in Georgia libraries, from school media centers to public book repositories.
At stake could be the Springfield branch’s future, as two of the county’s most powerful elected officials - not grassroots activists - lead the opposition.
The drama opened Nov. 21 when Effingham Commissioner Roger Burdette suggested defunding the library during a commission workshop. He called for steps to be taken to “protect Effingham’s children” from what he considers “dangerous” books, specifically those that address gender identity.
Burdette’s challenge led to a contentious special-called meeting two weeks later. The session fell on the eve of a vote to renew a library operating agreement and was marked by frequent jeering from members of the public in attendance and barely constrained discourse among stakeholders.
One of the officials involved in the discussion, the mayor of an Effingham municipality, accused Burdette of seeking to “demonize” LGBTQ residents.
“This is less about the library and more about fearmongering about children in order to marginalize people who do live in this community,” said Guyton Mayor Russ Deen.
Burdette eased his library funding stance the next day, motioning to approve the library renewal agreement. But his objection to the library’s inclusion of transgender-themed books and promotion of them through a library reading list focused on diversity and initially branded as the “Read Woke Challenge” remains. And Burdette has a powerful ally in the commission’s chairman, Wesley Corbitt, who has suggested that “material that goes against biology should maybe be kept under lock and key.”
Corbitt has suggested that public hearings about the library’s collection and controls lie ahead. He did not respond to request for comment. Reached by email, Burdette requested the interview be conducted after the new year..
Local library officials and advocates fear a renewed assault in 2024. They’re aware of action taken against public libraries elsewhere, such as defunding of systems in Virginia and Michigan and efforts to put library funding referendums on voter ballots in Washington and Montana, as reasons for concern.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Diversity vs values
Visitors to the Springfield Library and its sister Effingham branch in Rincon, the county seat, have access to more than 60,000 titles.
According to library statistics, the Effingham branches received three requests to remove LGBTQ-themed books in the last three years.
“We get more questions about the lack of diversity in materials than we have those complaining about the diversity in our collection,” Live Oak’s executive director, Lola Shelton-Council, said during the Dec. 4 meeting.
The dearth of protests over Live Oak’s collection bucks a national trend: library book challenges have skyrocketed since 2021, up nearly 40%, according to the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom. The majority of those complaints involved LGBTQ-themed books.
Live Oak Libraries has increased its outreach and promotion of its diverse collection. A 2020 audit showed Live Oak lacked titles written by what Shelton-Council called “under-represented voices,” which include low-income people, Blacks, Asians, women, Hispanics and members of the LGBTQ community.
The library added books from authors in those demographics and compiled a “Read Woke Challenge” reading list of those titles accessible to the public through the system’s website. Earlier this month – prior to the Dec. 4 special-called meeting in Effingham – Live Oak rebranded the list as “Read Free.”
The move, according to a library spokeswoman, was made “to ensure the recent politicization of the word ‘woke’ did not damage the challenge’s appeal or the initiative’s intent: breaking down barriers to give the community the opportunity to read books that highlight perspectives that differ from their own.”
Live Oak officials cite their obligation to maintain a collection that reflects the diversity of their residents. Savannah is home to a vibrant LGBTQ community, and Shelton-Council said more than 1,500 books with LGBTQ titles have been checked out of the two branches since 2021.
“So we know people in Effingham are looking for it,” she said.
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Credit: Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Shelton-Council’s position runs contrary to that of the two Effingham commissioners. Both Burdette and Corbitt reference their Christian faith as a basis for their objections, and Burdette said Live Oak Libraries have embraced a “liberal agenda that is opposed to our Effingham values.”
The Effingham County Commission is far from united in its dissatisfaction with the library system. Three other commissioners have spoken in support of Live Oak and said they have seen no evidence that the library is promoting political or cultural ideologies. All three expressed concerns about removing or putting controls on LGBTQ-themed literature.
“If we censor one group, where does it stop?,” said Commissioner Jamie DeLoach at the Dec. 4 meeting. “Do we censor another group later on?”
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