Prattville library changes hours after being told of threat to funding

PRATTVILLE ? After being told Tuesday that new, shorter library hours could put state funding in danger, the chair of the board of trustees said the Autauga-Prattville Library will return to full operational hours.

On Monday, the library’s Facebook page posted new hours Monday through Saturday would be from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., cutting an hour a day. That meant the library would be open 42 hours a week. Library systems serving a community of 50,000 to 99,999 patrons is required to be open a minimum of 45 hours a week, according to state code.

According to census figures, Autauga County’s estimated population in July was 60,342. The library system serves the entire county. The library could have failed to qualify for state aid if minimum hours were not maintained, the code section said. After being informed of that, trustee board chair Ray Boles said about noon Tuesday that the library would return to its original hours.

“We are going back now to full hours," Boles said. "We have the staff. I didn’t know we were under minimum hours."

Boles later clarified that the library's new hours would be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday for a total of 45 hours per week.

The Facebook page also announced the cancellations of all programs until further notice. The library did hold an Easter egg hunt Tuesday morning, and a solar eclipse presentation set for March 25 at 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. will go on, the Facebook page said.

Other programs remain cancelled, Boles said. Next week is spring break for the Autauga County Schools System, and spring break is usually always a busy time at the library.

“We just don’t have the people to have the programs,” he said. “We have to get these new people in and trained before we can start the programs again.”

More: Prattville library gets interim director amid book ban controversy

The library has been embroiled in controversy for almost a week. The board fired former director Andrew Foster on Thursday after a group began protesting subject matter of some of the books in the children's section, including books with LGBTQ themes. Library staff closed the main building in Prattville in protest, and Boles fired four employees.

Boles said Saturday the employees were offered their jobs back, and that one was returning, one was considering returning and two decided not to return to work.

Assistant director Kaitlin Wilson said Boles only talked to one employee Saturday morning to offer her job back and the other three employees were never directly contacted by the board or Boles. On Tuesday, Boles said he didn’t say Saturday that he talked directly to all four employees, but that he did tell one employee the other three could return to work if they wanted.

The library board appointed Tammy Bear as interim director in a Saturday morning meeting. The library system employs 17 full- and part-time workers, Bear said Saturday. There have been four employees who have quit, she said.

The board of trustees is working to hire a new director.

The controversy began when dueling groups addressed the Prattville City Council and Autauga County Commission in May over the subject matter of some books in the children's section, since those boards appoint the trustees. The governments appoint the trustees and provide funding for the library system, but the library trustees are an independent, codified board that handles the operations of the system.

One group opposed books it said contained sexually suggestive language and references to LGBTQ subject matter. The other group wanted no restrictions on books in the children’s section, relying on parents to determine what their children should and should not read.

The controversy came to a head in late 2023 when board of trustees members resigned en masse after the county commission appointed trustees to open slots without first consulting the existing trustees. That led to an entirely new board of trustees, with one slot remaining to be appointed by the city council.

Boles said he does not want to ban or remove books. Books that contain sexually explicit material should be moved from the children's section to the adult section, he said. Boles said books containing LGBTQ subject matter will remain in the children's section.

On Saturday, Boles told the Montgomery Advertiser that Foster was fired for not following the board’s direction to survey the books for the sexually explicit books to be moved to the adult section, and not following the board’s direction in the matter.

As reported by the Alabama Reflector and others, a different statement was released to the media Thursday in the wake of Foster's firing. The two-sentence statement said that Foster was terminated “for revealing confidential information to the press.” Scrawled on the paper containing the statement was an arrow, starting underneath the word “press,” and continuing underneath the statement which read “and violation of criminal law.” The board did not provide any evidence of wrongdoing, the Reflector reported.

“Let me make a statement to the media,” Boles said at that meeting. “I have a written statement, which you may have. There will be nobody talking to the media other than the written statement.”

Foster told the Reflector that the “confidential information” the board referred to involved a records request that he fulfilled featuring emails between himself, the trustees and Laura Clark, an attorney hired by board members last month.

On Tuesday, during the interview with the Montgomery Advertiser about the failure of the library to maintain minimum hours, Boles said he didn’t say Foster was fired for not surveying the books and or not following the board’s direction. He said Tuesday that Foster was fired for releasing confidential information to the media.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Prattville library changes hours after being told of threat to funding