Stand Up Against Book Bans in Georgia

A group of families is prepared to sue the Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library Board because of its violations of the First Amendment, and we are urgently requesting your help to pay for expenses of litigation, such as filing fees, court reporter fees, and service fees. This fundraiser is organized by individual families pursuing litigation to protect First Amendment rights in public libraries. Any unused funds will support community efforts to oppose censorship through Freedom to Read Coalition of Columbia County, LLC, but the litigation is a separate grassroots initiative.

Background: The public libraries in Columbia County, Georgia are part of the Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library. A small group of individuals (book banners) have been bombarding the Columbia County libraries with book challenges since 2022, focusing on LGBTQ+ material. When the book banners didn't get what they wanted (all LGBTQ+ books banned or moved to the adult sections), they began a pressure campaign on Columbia County’s Commissioners. The County Commissioners began replacing the County Library Advisory Board with individuals more sympathetic to the book banners, thereby funneling them to the Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library Board of Trustees. In September 2024, the Commissioners passed "Columbia County Library Guidelines for Determining Book Placement" without any input from library staff. This document was then used along with the database, BookLooks (associated with Moms For Liberty), to move more than 40 books from the Teen/YA room to the adult section, targeting books with LGBTQ+ content and/or written by people of color.

The State of Georgia Librarian then informed the County Commissioners that Greater Clarks Hill Regional Library Board of Trustees, which under Georgia law governs the library system, is responsible for the Collection Development Policy. Five out of the nine voting members on the Regional Library Board are Columbia County appointees. Before their vote, the Library Board was warned of the illegality of the guidelines. Nevertheless, the Regional Board passed the guidelines on December 10, 2024, but to apply in only one county, Columbia County, out of the four counties in the library system. The Regional Library Director submitted her resignation that same day.

The guidelines have been used to transfer materials with LGBTQ+ characters to sections for older library patrons, move graphic novels around the library, and generally to hide books. For example, nine juvenile, non-fiction books covering puberty and human sexuality were pulled off the shelves and hidden in a back office for four months. The guidelines are not applied consistently to the entire library collection; books with heterosexual characters containing comparable levels of sexual content have not been challenged or relocated.

After passing the guidelines, several of the Columbia County Library Board representatives resigned. Given the turnover of board members, the Greater Clarks Hill Regional Board had requested and were granted more than one extension of time to rescind the guidelines. Unfortunately, the Board did not rescind the guidelines and will continue to use them to further violate the First Amendment.

Libraries are public spaces for all of us, fundamental to the traditions of our republic. Libraries need our help; they cannot protect themselves. Unless defended from the beginning, institutions like libraries fall, one after the other. We will not freely give power to the County Commission or to the Regional Library Board to dictate what books are allowed in our public libraries. We will fight to protect the freedoms of the First Amendment. We ask for your help.