As Librarians and library workers, there are things we are privy to that most citizens of the counties we serve are not. There are many examples of this in the regular, everyday interactions we have with our patrons. However, I do not know that I have seen a more blatant example of this than in the situation recently “resolved” in the Fontana Regional Library system. (Quotations explained later in the post).
In our last post, we discussed the turmoil in the AMY Regional Library system. The libraries that make up that system are in Avery, Mitchell, and Yancey counties located in Western, North Carolina. Today’s library system also resides in Western, North Carolina. If you imagine that NC is shaped like a woman’s shoe with a long heel, then the Fontana Regional Library system in Jackson, Swain, and Macon Counties, is located towards the tip of the shoe, on the borders of Tennessee and South Carolina.
Let’s preface this post by saying that though this article and the previous one deal with small counties in Western, North Carolina and have similar themes, not every situation will be like this one. Likewise, not every small town has these situations, and not every censorship attempt is made in Western, North Carolina. We recognize that these situations happen everywhere and for a myriad of reasons. We hope to highlight more of these stories throughout the state of North Carolina, as well as highlight success stories. If you know of any from our state, please Contact Us with that information. It may be featured in our posts!
With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s jump into today’s topic and find out exactly how this situation in Macon was “resolved”.
Much like our previous post, the incidents in question began with a Pride Month display. The first evidence of a fall-out over a June Pride Month display happened in June 2021. A concerned citizen wrote a letter that was published in the local paper stating their displeasure with the “‘perverse promotions’” of the LGBTQIA+ materials in the children’s section (Honosky, 2022).
The resident in question, Jim Gaston, will become quite a fixture in this escalating situation.
The situation also occurred in June 2022 when the library again displayed LGBTQIA+ materials for Pride Month. The display, pictured here from an article by the Asheville Citizen Times, features books, a sign in a plexiglass holder, some tiny Pride flags, and some informational materials (Honosky, 2022).
At the time this display was up in the library, the Commissioners were meeting to vote on the budget for their upcoming fiscal year. One item on the agenda was a potential pay increase for library staff.
One Commissioner in particular, Paul Higdon, refused to give the library more money as he said he could not see himself giving them a raise when they make displays with such “divisive” content (Honosky, 2022).
Complaints from some citizens followed the 2022 Pride Month display fall out, with some citizens making similar comments to what many of us will be familiar with in regards to LGBTQ materials. However, one thing became clear; not all complaints came from residents of the community.
Every library should have a clear Reconsideration of Materials policy that outlines procedures to be followed when a patron wishes to challenge a book. A good rule of thumb is to include a stipulation that complainants must be residents of the county the library serves. Another would be that the person must be a library card holder. This helps eliminate complaints from people who don’t have a stake in that community.
Over the course of the following months, a new policy for the Reconsideration of Materials was proposed for Macon County Public Library that would include the above stipulations about card holders and residents. The hope was that it would deter people from outside the county from making trouble for a library they did not use (Hodge, 2023).
Things between the public and the library came to a head in March 2023. At the bi-monthly meeting held by the library board, citizens became irate when they learned public comments were not allowed. The board was completely within their rights to not allow them due to NC General Statute 143-318. This statute pertains to Open/Public Meetings and does not require that public comment be allowed at these meetings (Lewicki, 2023).
At this same meeting was one of the county commissioners who also became irate at the lack of public comments and invited everyone at the Board meeting to the Commissioners meeting being held later that day. Many showed up to voice their displeasure about the library, including our complainant from earlier in this post, Jim Gaston. Gaston demanded that the Macon County Public Library should separate from FRL (Lewicki, 2023).
Earlier in this post I stated that often citizens are not aware of what occurs in a library, or what it takes to fund one. Gaston’s comments at the meeting reflect this. He wanted Macon to pull out of FRL because he believed they would still be fine due to borrowing materials from the NC Cardinal system (The Southern Scoop, 2023). He also believed that Macon County funds should “stay in Macon County” (Lewicki, 2023). The same County Commissioner at the board meeting, Commissioner Antoine, agreed with him and made multiple mentions of ensuring that Macon County separated from FRL (The Southern Scoop, 2023).
There are multiple things wrong with this idea and we outline them below:
First, for those who may be unaware, the NC Cardinal ILS is a state funded initiative that connects libraries across the state of NC and allows them to share resources for the purposes of getting more materials in the hands of patrons at no cost to the patron. However, even if patrons do not have to pay, libraries do. Each library system has to pay to be a part of NC Cardinal. This means that if Macon County were to separate from FRL, they would be solely responsible for paying the NC Cardinal fees, where before, they were only paying a portion.
Second, most regional systems have a stipulation in their by-laws stating that any materials purchased by the county remain with the county that purchased them, but any materials purchased by the region, must be returned to the region if a county were to separate. Most of the materials purchased for the Macon County libraries were purchased with FRL funds, so they would be required to give those materials back to the region. Buildings and holdings acquired through the County, however, would stay with them.
Third, in the by-laws for FRL, they make it clear that funds for each county go to support that county’s libraries, with only a small portion going to fund FRL programs. Macon County funds would go toward paying for their staff, for example, and would not pay for staff in either Swain or Jackson counties. Gaston’s arguments about not wanting Macon funds to go to the other county libraries was moot for this reason.
All this to say, it would be hard, if not impossible, for Macon to leave FRL, for the same reasons we stated in our last blog post.
It will not surprise you then to hear that Macon County voted to stay in FRL.
New by-laws were drafted by Macon County Commissioners that proposed major changes to certain procedures. These were sent out to Jackson and Swain County Commissioners in November 2023. However, Jackson and Swain were not on board with the wording used, and after some haggling, a meeting was held in May 2024 with all three counties represented to come to an agreement (Knoepp, 2024).
A decision was reached and Jackson and Swaim Counties both signed off on the new changes in August 2024. Macon Commissioners voted to accept the changes in November 2024.
These new changes created new wording that placed much of the responsibility for choosing books on parents/guardians. It also stated that children under 8 had to be accompanied by their parent/guardian in the library. There was also a section requiring that at library board meetings, there would be a 30-minute public comments section, and each citizen would be given 3 minutes to speak (Knoepp, 2024).
At the beginning of this article, I stated that the situation in FRL had been “resolved”. The reason I added quotation marks is because as library workers we understand this is an ongoing battle. Particularly during times of political upheavals, libraries are targets for many who want to limit access to materials they disagree with. Libraries across the country are facing censorship attempts. These attempts are not just limited to the materials, however.
Many library staff are being targeted for working in libraries. The majority of people who work in libraries are not people purchasing the materials. However, the public views us all that way. Titles do not matter, and job duties do not matter. They see people working behind a desk, and so we are all guilty in their eyes of being “morally corrupt”, “pushing agendas”, “being groomers”, and so many other things it would (ironically) take an entire book to fill.
It is easy to feel discouraged or disheartened due to the things we hear and see. Stories like the ones in Macon and Yancey Counties are the ones we are hearing. We do not hear many good stories. Yet, they exist. Not everyone who frequents our libraries feels the way citizens were portrayed in this article. Many support us and want to see us continue our mission of Intellectual Freedom.
Speak with the supporters you find and help them to understand how to get involved. Reach out to organizations and businesses in your community for partnerships. Create a community with the library at its heart. This will go a long way to getting the needed support to continue the library’s mission.
Remember, libraries are leaders in the fight for the First Amendment. Intellectual Freedom is a fight to protect the rights of citizens to make choices for themselves about what materials they want to access. The First Amendment is being attacked on multiple fronts and for a multitude of reasons. It is up to us to continue the fight to protect our patrons, and authors, rights to be heard and respected.
Please reach out to us and share your stories. We would love to hear them and there is a chance they will be shared on these blogs!
Thank you for reading, and if you haven’t heard it yet today, thank you for all you do for your community!
Resources:
Hodge, R. (2023, January 6). Macon County Public Library considers changing complaint policy after LGBTQ display. ABC 13 News. https://wlos.com/news/local/macon-county-public-library-considers-changing-its-complaint-policy-franklin-lgbtq-display-commissioner-paul-higdon-librarian-karen-wallace
Honosky, S. (2022, June 13). Macon County commissioner denounces library Pride Month display; opposes funding increase. Asheville Citizen Times. https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2022/06/13/macon-county-commissioner-publicly-denounces-library-pride-display/7580106001/
Knoepp, L. (2024, November 11). One year later, Fontana Regional Library agreement back on Macon County agenda Tuesday night. BPR News. https://www.bpr.org/bpr-news/2024-11-11/one-year-later-fontana-regional-library-agreement-back-on-macon-county-agenda-tuesday-night
Lewicki, K. (2023, March 16). MC Commissioners consider ending agreement with Fontana Regional Library System. Plateau Daily News. https://plateaudailynews.com/2023/03/16/mc-commissioners-consider-ending-agreement-with-fontana-regional-library-system/
McLeod, H. (2023, March 29). Macon residents, commissioner float withdrawing from Fontana Regional Library. Smoky Mountain News. https://smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/35367-macon-residents-commissioner-float-withdrawing-from-fontana-regional-library
McLeod, H. (2024, November 20). Jackson, Macon, Swain reach FRL agreement. Smoky Mountain News. https://smokymountainnews.com/news/item/38699-jackson-macon-swain-reach-frl-agreement
The Southern Scoop. (2023, March 17). Macon Commissioners side with patrons asking county to withdraw from the Fontana Regional Library System. The Southern Scoop. https://thesouthernscoopnews.com/latest-news/macon-commissioners-side-with-patrons-asking-county-to-withdraw-from-the-fontana-regional-library-system
WLOS Staff. (2022, June 13). Pride Month display at Macon County Library draws fire. ABC 13 News. https://wlos.com/news/local/pride-month-display-at-macon-county-library-draws-fire