Autauga-Prattville Public Library employees launch work stoppage over director’s firing

Signs are posted in the young adult section of the Autauga-Prattville Public Library on Feb. 23, 2024. (Ralph Chapoco/ Alabama Reflector)

Three employees of the Autauga-Prattville Public Library said Friday they will not return to work unless terminated Director Andrew Foster does.

The employees accused Board of Trustees Chair Ray Boles of threatening their jobs when they refused to reopen the library Thursday night in protest of the board’s decision to terminate Foster at a special called meeting on Thursday.

“We weren’t surprised, but at the same time it hit like a ton of rocks because we found out by three of the board members walking into our back office and informing us,” said Lacie Sutherland, the cataloging and acquisitions librarian for the library, of Foster’s termination.

The three employees said Boles began to “berate” the staff Thursday for their actions.

“He is speaking like an authoritarian, saying ‘you will open up the library,’” Sutherland said. ‘“You do not have the right to do this.’”

Messages were left with Boles seeking comment.

Sutherland said Boles then told the staff that a new director would be hired the following week, but before then, the assistant director would serve as the leader of the library.

“I immediately corrected him, saying that she could not be the interim director by the previous board’s policies, when she was hired last spring, she was told that she could not ever be interim director, because she does not hold a master’s degree when she was given the job as assistant director,” she said.

Boles then told the staff he was in control of the library until a new director was hired and ordered the staff to open the facility and continue operating, according to Sutherland.

“It ended with him asking us, ‘if you do not come and show up to open up tomorrow then you will be fired,” Sutherland said. “He looked at me and asked me for my name. Then he looked at Rachel Daniels who had a folder in her hands.”

Boles then told her to write Sutherland’s name.

“He then said, ‘What is your name and are you going to open up tomorrow?’” Sutherland said. “I told him no and he did that to three other coworkers.”

Boles told the staff he had the support of the mayor of Prattville, the Autauga County Commission, and the city council before making a call, Sutherland said.

A second employee, Luke Rollins, said that Boles told him and the other employees that the “county had said that we should continue regular hours, and that we should reopen.”

A third employee, Adrienne Barringer, a library associate, said that Boles approached each of them individually and told them to reopen the library.

Rollins said the employees refused. That was when Boles gave them the ultimatum, to either reopen the library or be terminated.

“When he gets off the phone, he comes back and says, ‘get out of here.’” Sutherland said.

The Montgomery Advertiser reported Friday morning that Boles made an offer to allow them to keep their jobs. As of Friday afternoon, none of the employees had been given a notice of termination.

Tension between the library staff and a new group of library trustees appointed by the Autauga County Commission had been building for months. Several former commissioners resigned in protest over appointments made by the county commission. The new board members assumed control Feb. 8 and adopted new policies at their February meeting. On Thursday, they voted to terminate Foster. Foster said it was because he responded to a public records request.

The staff locked the doors of the library, which was still in its regular hours, a few minutes later.

Barringer spoke with the public shortly afterward, telling people that the doors will remain closed as staff in protest after Foster was dismissed.

“The library staff will not stand for this,” she said Thursday evening. “We will not.”

The series of events is the latest in a community drama that has been playing out for about a year. It began in 2023 when a mother checked out a pronoun book from circulation without realizing the book included pronouns other than male and female.

She then relayed her concerns to other parents, who then went on to review several books on the library shelves before approaching elected officials with the problem. They then organized, forming Clean Up Alabama, and began attending commission and council meetings to read passages they claim are sexually explicit.

Messages were left with Clean Up Alabama seeking comment. Opponents formed a group called Read Freely Alabama, which accused Clean Up Alabama of engaging in a veiled attempt to remove books that highlight issues related to sexual orientation and race.

The new board is largely sympathetic to Clean Up Alabama.

“There is a small, and very loud, minority of people who live in Autauga County, who have particular ideological beliefs that are offensive to LGBTQ+ people,” Sutherland said.

Several groups have weighed in on the side of Foster and the staff.

“The termination of Library Director Andrew Foster and members of his professional staff is an unjust, politically motivated attack on the livelihood of individuals who did nothing wrong, and undermines this library’s capacity for properly, effectively serving the public,” Matthew Layne, president of the Alabama Library Association, said in a statement on Friday. “Further, it’s a frightening example of what could happen at public libraries across our state. As a lifelong Alabama resident, I know this is unequivocally not what our state’s residents want.”

Another group, EveryLibrary, also supports the staff.

“We are calling on the City Council, Mayor, and County Commissioners to return these librarians to their jobs and rescind the discriminatory anti-LBGTQ+ policies imposed by the board,” said John Chrastka, executive director of the EveryLibrary and the EveryLibrary Institute. “We must take action to ensure that all citizens’ rights are protected and that the library is free from workplace harassment and politicized actions.”

Foster’s termination has catalyzed other developments, with the trustees of the library board convening a meeting Saturday to name a new director.

Members of Clean Up Alabama were also seen at the library on Friday, helping the remaining staff care for the shelves and books. A GoFundMe account has been established to assist staff who do not plan to return to their post.

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