Cardinal News: Then & Now takes a look back at the stories we brought you over the last 12 months. Through the end of the year, we’ll share updates on some of the people and issues that made news in 2023.
In Appomattox and Botetourt counties, libraries were at the center of First Amendment debates this summer.
In Appomattox County, the board of supervisors ejected, then reappointed, several members of its library board of trustees in response to complaints about a Pride-month themed display in the children’s section of the J. Robert Jamerson Memorial Library.
The only member of the library board the supervisors didn’t reappoint was Joetricia Humbles, a well-known advocate for underrepresented communities in the area who happened to be the only person of color on the library board. The board of supervisors considered expanding the size of the library board in order to reinstate Humbles after hearing community opposition to her ouster, but ultimately did not do so.
Since then, the board of supervisors has accepted the resignation of library board member Nancy Jo Billings, who was appointed in what seemed at the time like a spur-of-the-moment nomination in July to fill Humbles’ seat on the library board. Billings’ resignation email in late August cited her work schedule as a nurse, and the board of supervisors appointed Madeline Abbitt to the slot.
Though some residents repeatedly asked the board of supervisors over the summer to remove books with LGBTQ+ themes or characters, that concern was not reflected in the number of requests submitted to the library directly.
Katharine Bloodworth, the interim director of the Jamerson library, said by email on Dec. 13 that the only books that have been formally challenged by a patron in recent months was the “50 Shades of Grey” series that debuted for adults more than 10 years ago. The books remain in the collection.
Humbles, the ousted library board member, has returned to local government as a director for the Robert E. Lee Soil and Water Conservation District. She had previously been appointed to a vacancy on the board in 2020 and served until 2022, overlapping briefly with her time on the library board. Humbles said in an interview that at the time, she felt better suited to serve on the library board.
But in late October, she learned that some voters were planning to write her in for the soil and water board, where there was only one candidate for two open spots. Humbles won the open seat with 13 write-in votes.
She’ll serve a four-year term and said she’s pleased to rejoin the board. She’s also focusing on her leadership role for Appomattox for Equality, a grassroots nonprofit that’s preparing for Black History Month events in conjunction with other local organizations. Through Appomattox for Equality, she also wants to increase summer activity options for local youth through local collaborations and utilizing residents’ skills.
“There are so many talented individuals” in the Appomattox area, she said, and engaging with them could positively impact the community.
Meanwhile, in Botetourt County, a citizens group called Botetourt Residents Against Child Exploitation pushed the board of supervisors for several months to remove what it described as sexually explicit material from the county’s four library branches. The board of supervisors doubled down on its support of library staff during the debate, issuing two resolutions in July in support of staff and director Julie Phillips.
Members of BRACE continued to pressure the board of supervisors and the library board, and even launched a write-in candidate, Jacqueline Lynch, against board of supervisors chair Donald “Mac” Scothorn in the November election. But Lynch didn’t announce her campaign until Oct. 24, and picked up only about 10% of the 1,900 total votes cast for the board of supervisors seat.
Library director Phillips said there have not been any new reconsideration forms submitted for titles since the spring, when three people challenged 13 titles, all of which library staff deemed appropriate to keep in the library. September was the last month during which the library board heard requests to move or remove materials at its monthly meetings, she said.
Beyond Southwest Virginia, one of the most heated battles over library books has been at the Samuels Public Library in Front Royal.
There, a conservative group of residents lobbied to have 141 titles removed from the library, and the board of supervisors decided to withhold 75% of the library’s annual funding.
But in October, the library and the county settled on a new operating agreement to guarantee funding through 2025. The library says it spent nearly $100,000 on responding to concerns about its collection as of mid-October, according to a report from the Northern Virginia Daily.
In the first eight months of 2023, the American Library Association reported 695 attempts to remove or restrict access to a total of 1,900 unique titles.
Challenges to 356 of those titles occurred in Virginia between January and August, compared to 182 for the entire year prior.
Content discussions continue to take place in school libraries, as well.
In Franklin County, the school board voted in December to establish new guidelines for library books. Parents will be opted into a system alerting them to the titles their child checks out of the school library, and they can choose to prevent their child from checking out specific material, such as books by a certain author. The new policy also allows parents and guardians to challenge learning resources, including books, through a system that starts with a conference with the school principal. The board can review the policy after six months of use, The Roanoke Times reported.
