Trussville Public Library is removing 11 books from circulation and moving 25 children’s and young adult titles to an adult section after a complaint about inappropriate content.

The library canceled Monday afternoon activities to make room for nearly 200 people. They filed into the building’s auditorium to voice concerns about recent book challenges, which began last December after a patron brought a list of material she wanted removed from the shelves.

“Parents and guardians are responsible for guiding and directing the reading, listening and viewing choices of minor children,” board president Debbie Waid told the crowd, noting that the complaint was the first she’s heard about the content of a book in her 23 years at the library. “The library does not stand in place of the parents.”

Trussville is the second known library in the state to remove books after a complaint – though officials said the materials were not removed because of their content. Several others have moved content to adult sections. And just last week, controversy over books in the Prattville Public Library prompted the firing of the library’s director and four staff members.

“What has been happening in Alabama is we’ve had a kind of vocal minority of extremists who have been challenging books, who have been calling books that are about crayons sexually explicit,” Matthew Layne of the Alabama Library Association recently told AL.com. “It’s been really remarkable and fascinating, but also kind of heartbreaking at the level of mis- and disinformation that’s been spread out there.”

Trussville Public Library Director Jason Baker said a Trussville resident, Sheila Wright, approached library staff on Dec. 5, 2023 about some concerns that, he said, were largely related to content around sexual orientation and gender identity. As a one-time exception, staff agreed to review the full list of 41 items that she had shared.

Trussville Public Library’s current book challenge policy requires complainants to first submit a statement of concern for each item they wish to remove. Once staff receives a submission, they will review the materials, discuss them and make a recommendation on how to move forward.

Officials said they told Wright about their decision before announcing it publicly. No other statements of concern were received at that time.

Wright then read a letter at a February board meeting demanding the removal of the materials – as well as others that were not originally included, Baker said. Officials said about 10 people spoke in support of Wright at that meeting.

The board decided to keep five titles in their current locations, including three parenting books about gender, sex and pronoun usage and two teen and adult-rated movies, “The Duff” and “Call Me By Your Name.”

The titles were removed due to low circulation, Waid said. They include the following:

• L8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle
• Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold
• The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger
• The Haters by Jesse Andrews
• All The Things We Do In The Dark by Ashley Hope Parez
• Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Parez
• Crank by Ellen Hopkins
• Traffick by Ellen Hopkins
• Tricks by Ellen Hopkins
• Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas
• I am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin

Of the 25 titles that were moved, seven were transferred to the adult section because the board felt they contained adult content.

Another 18 young adult items with mature content will be labeled as “mature teen” or “mature young adult” content and moved to its own area in the adult section. Those titles include “The Hate U Give,” by Angie Thomas, and “Eleanor and Park,” by Rainbow Rowell.

Wright said Monday that she is opposed to moving the material where it is still accessible, and that she wishes to protect minors from “indoctrination” and “exposure to what most of us consider unhealthy.”

She noted a board book for toddlers about gender identity, a book called “Sex is a Funny Word” which she said contained graphic drawings and a section on masturbation, and fantasy books by Sarah Maas, a popular teen author.

Several of the challenged books include titles contested by Clean Up Alabama, a group that is behind several book challenges in public libraries across the state.

“We think that children, their minds are not developed enough to be presented with this material,” Wright told AL.com after the meeting.

She was met, however, with opposition from several parents, who said they should be trusted to make their own decisions about their childrens’ reading habits.

Some compared recent book challenges to authoritarian rule. Others said they were an affront to values like freedom and liberty.

“I’m proud to be an American and proud to be a patriot,” said Jennifer Corpus, a self-described homeschool mom and Air Force wife. “What I’m not proud of is when that same freedom that my husband has sworn to protect is infringed upon here in the Trussville library, where my five- and two-year-old come to learn about people who are different than them. It is not our right to control what others have access to.”

David Teel, a Methodist pastor, said his local library introduced him to viewpoints and perspectives that he wouldn’t have otherwise encountered in his rural hometown.

“All of these books provide for us an opportunity to acknowledge that we struggle in life and that we need support along the way from one another,” he said. “I love reading these books and talking about the people living on the margins, because the stories they tell are stories that connect us all.”

Some noted policies already in place to help families monitor children’s reading. Trussville Public Library cards for children under the age of 15 are connected to a parent’s card, which allows adults to review the content children are checking out.

“The library has come under attack for these books,” said Esther Glenn, who credited the library for helping to homeschool her four children. “But I believe that these library policies can and should be allowed to handle every challenge that’s brought before it because these are the professionals and we need to let them do their job.”

View a full list of the challenged materials and where they were moved below:

Alaina Bookman contributed reporting.