Alpena County moves to fire library officials over sexually-themed youth books

• A long-running battle over sexual-themed books has now cost the Alpena County library board members their jobs 
• The library also could be defunded in a millage vote Aug. 6
• The fight has gotten nasty, with signs calling librarians ‘groomers’

ALPENA — In an escalation of Michigan’s book wars, the Alpena County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday began the process of firing all members of its public library board over their handling of a handful of children and teen books with sexual themes.

The move comes two weeks before voters in this politically conservative community in northern Michigan go to the polls to decide on a millage request to keep the library open. 

An organized campaign against the tax includes yard signs urging voters to “Vote NO on Library Grooming” and includes an image of a man handing a book labeled “X Rated” to a young girl.

While book wars aren’t unusual, observers say they believe it is the first time that county leaders in Michigan have moved to remove library board members. All five are unpaid and appointed to five-year terms. 

“We’re kind of in shock right now,” said Jessica Luther, assistant director of the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, told Bridge Michigan on Tuesday.

“It’s emblematic of the loss of civility we’ve had in our communities. People have become ‘it’s my way or no way’ and there’s no flexibility.”

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Commissioner Travis Konarzewski told Bridge Michigan the action came because the library board was not listening to the concerns of the public and refused to move sexually themed books to a different part of the library.

The 6-1 vote doesn’t fire members immediately. Instead, a personnel committee of the county commission will take up the issue and their dismissal is expected to take 60 to 90 days.

At issue are 14 books including “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships and Being a Human.” The graphic novel is one of the American Library Association’s 10 most challenged books of 2023 for its depiction of masturbation and LGBTQ issues.

Another targeted book, “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health” also discusses masturbation and other sex acts.

The library’s assistant director, Luther, said officials followed guidelines and resources provided by an attorney with the Library of Michigan and declined to move the books out of the youth section. 

Doing so would make it more difficult for the intended audience to find the books and could prompt a lawsuit, Luther said. 

“The library board has been careful to follow a process and seek legal advice, to ensure that their patron's civil rights and First Amendment rights are not violated by the removal or relocation of materials in the library,” Dillon Geshel, president of the Michigan Library Association. 

“The reason for removal seems to be that the library board continues to carefully follow the law when weighing questions about the content of library materials. MLA stands with the Alpena library and their efforts to ensure that the constitutional rights of patrons are protected. “

‘We have a serious problem’

The action comes just weeks before residents of this county on Thunder Bay vote Aug. 6 on an operating millage that comprises 74% of the annual budget of the Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library. 

Alpena Library Board Chairperson Joe Garber told Bridge Michigan Monday, before the county commissioners moved to fire him, that the library would have to close without the about $800,000 that comes from the operating millage annually.

The tax costs owners of homes assessed at $200,000 about $148 per year.

“If the millage isn’t approved, we’ll have to look for a Plan B,” Garber said. “And right now, the Plan B is closing.”

Alpena County has a population of 28,000, with a little over a third of residents living in the city of Alpena. 

Home of the world’s largest cement plant, and a shipwreck museum, the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center, Alpena has a vibrant downtown with book stores and ice cream shops, bordering beaches and a harbor.

Like most of northern Michigan, Alpena County is conservative politically, voting for Donald Trump over Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election by a margin of 28 points. Statewide, Biden won the election by 2.8 points

With the primary two weeks away, the small, tidy lawns of Alpena are dotted with political signs. Ones about the library millage outnumber signs for candidates.

Resident Bruce Health, a resident who founded NE Michigan League of Conservative Education, is leading efforts to defeat the tax.

He said he’s a “huge fan” of the library but feels the books are pornography and hurting kids.

“We don’t necessarily want to shut the library down, but there just so happens to be a millage in August, and so it’s a leverage point,” said Heath. “This is about getting the county’s attention that we have a serious problem here.”

At a library board meeting Monday evening, Heath used his three minutes of public comment to read a passage from “Jack of Hearts (and other parts),” which he had checked out from the Alpena Library. 

The passage described sexual positions for a same-sex male relationship. Amazon describes the book as written for young adults, about “an unapologetically queer teen working to uncover a blackmailer threatening him back into the closet.”

Other books criticized by residents include “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a memoir that includes descriptions of the author’s first sexual relationships. 

‘I love my library’

Critics asked library officials to move the books out of the children and teen sections, to the adult shelves. Library leaders and the library board denied the request.

Alpena Mayor Cindy Johnson supports the current placement of the books, while the county commissioners who appoint the library board do not. 

The one commissioner who voted against removal of the board, John Kozlowski, said he also believes the books are inappropriate for youth.

But he told Bridge Michigan on Saturday that he didn’t believe it was appropriate for the commissioners to remove library board members who were doing what they believed in good faith was best for the library.

Alpena city resident Helen Feldkamp called it “disgusting to drive around and see these signs accusing librarians of being groomers.”

Feldkamp, who has an “I love my library” sign in her lawn, argues that people who don’t want to read certain books can just not check them out.

“I take my kids to the library. They say ‘Mom, can I check this out?’ I can say, ‘No, you’re not ready for that one’, and that’s the end of it.”

Alpena isn’t the first community to become entangled in fights over sexually (and usually LGBTQ-themed) books.

• In 2022, Jamestown Township voted to defund the Patmos Public Library  in a similar battle. An operating millage was voted down twice, and the library only managed to keep its doors open by collecting hundreds of thousands in donations. Voters approved an operating millage in November 2023.
• In Lapeer the sheriff mulled criminal charges against librarians in 2023 a fight over “Gender Queer,” a graphic novel memoir that includes illustrations of sex acts, which was in the public library.