YORK COUNTY, S.C. — York County leaders voted to remove three seats on the county library board in a meeting on Monday. Some people believe this will make it easier to pass harmful legislation, like banning books.
Inside the walls of the Fort Mill library, thousands of stories line the shelves, however, one story is playing out in a completely different way. Katie Rutland with CAPE said it’s gone on for far too long.
“Why are you doing this why is this necessary,” Rutland said. “This has been an ongoing issue for over a year and a half in York County.”
The measure passed 5-2 in a York County Council vote on Monday, shrinking the York County Library Board from 10 seats to seven.
“Going from 10 to seven is less people on the board that have an opinion that might not line up with theirs,” Rutland said.
Rutland is the founder of CAPE, Community Advocates for Public Education. She said there is a lot to read between the lines with the measure. She said it will make it easier for certain members of the board to push forward controversial topics like banning books.
“The timing is suspicious and the entire situation is rotten,” Rutland said. “And this is not what democracy looks like.”
Debrah Dahlin, Chair of the York County Library Board said the topic of banning books has been a hot one. Many have claimed there are age-inappropriate books in the children's sections, including pornography.
“We have had a difficult situation for library staff,” Dahlin said. “I want to assure the public we have no porn in the library.”
Dahlin said the possible decision to cut three seats came as a shock to her.
“We haven’t been told why the board is being reconfigured in a smaller way,” Dahlin said.
In a York County meeting from June 5, Commissioner Watts Huckabee said the reason came down to a board attendance.
“They can’t vote because they don’t have a quorum,” Huckabee said. “The issue maybe is the people serving don’t see the time worth it.”
Dahlin said the board meets the county-mandated six times a year, plus more. She added with a smaller board, it would be harder to make a quorum if that were the case.
Huckabee has since changed his vote in subsequent readings.
On Monday night he voted not to reduce the number of seats on the board, but said before the vote he was not aligning with any group ideology.
"It really doesn't matter whether it's a 10-person board or seven-person board it's the makeup of county council, this can determine who's on the board," Huckabee said. "So if the County Council's leaning left or leaning right, or if it's in the middle, that's going to be reflected ultimately over time, who's on the county board."
Council members get to choose one person from their district to the library board, the three seats up for elimination, are at-large seats—also chosen by the council.
One person who showed up at the council's meeting said he believes the conversation about the number of seats is a red herring.
"This seems to be a weird stand-in for what's been going on the culture wars that have been going on for the past few months, which were to move some children's books from the children's section to the adult section of the library," Gary Pearce, a concerned citizen said.
Pearce is talking about a movement to have books deemed inappropriate by right-leaning groups to be moved within the York County Library. Opponents of this argued books discussing gender identity, race, and culture were age appropriate for teens and were never located in a place not age appropriate as others suggested.
"The library board decided not to do that," Pearce said. "They issued a pretty strong statement that they weren't going to do that. This looks like it may be retaliation for that move."
Another citizen who came to the meeting said books discussing certain topics have no place in a library.
"We would like for the books to be moved to a section in the adult section so that if parents want their children to read about 'transgenderism' or some of these other things that are very controversial to show to young children, the parents can do that at this moment," Sylvie Carey said.
Carey didn't explain what books she found offensive by name. According to the American Library Association, the most frequently challenged books include issues, including race, gender identity, sexuality, and violence. The American Library Association said in 2022 demands to censor library books and resources were the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago.
In Charlotte and surrounding areas, these bans and censorships have been backed or pushed by right-leaning groups or community members. School districts including Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cabarrus County, and Union County Schools all were faced with book ban pushes in the past few years.