This post was made by County Council Woman Claireborne Linvill

Last night, the Pickens County Library Board voted 5-2 to terminate the library director, Stephanie Howard. Many folks were surprised by this, but I was not. Her firing looks to me like the end of a 5+-year plan of a small group of residents to dismantle our library system. For those of you coming to this issue for the first time, let me give you some history and background. 

Years ago (c 2020), groups like Moms for Liberty became concerned about “objectionable content” in books in schools and libraries. To help more folks know about these books, the website Book Looks launched in 2022 to grade and summarize books they found problematic and offer reports that folks could download. This meant anyone could easily access pre-written, fully cited reports ready to challenge books at schools and libraries, without having to read the books themselves. This national movement was successful, and Pickens County got our own group of challengers – mostly through the Conservatives of the Upstate (COTU) group – who began to challenge books at local schools and libraries. They challenged books at the school district level, resulting in the removal of several books from syllabi and classroom libraries. Most of these books had content related to LGBTQ themes or race issues. Their efforts were paused, however, when the school district was sued by the NAACP and ACLU for removing Stamped. That lawsuit is still ongoing, and thus discussions about book restrictions at the schools are on hold. So the COTU folks then turned their focus to public libraries, organizing under the name No Porn in Pickens (NPP).

In the same time period, NPP also started pressuring the county council to appoint pro-censorship folks to serve on the Library Board. NPP also began to overwhelm the libraries by submitting constant Request for Reconsideration forms that took hours of librarians’ time to review. NPP folks came to speak at county council meetings, reading cherry-picked passages from books, telling us we were “raping the minds of children,” and scolding us using their definition of Christian values. They called for us to remove books, to remove some Library Board members, and to appoint like-minded Library Board members.

Additionally, there was one more factor affecting libraries: protected funding. For decades, the library has been on a dedicated millage, meaning a portion of your property taxes were directly allocated to libraries. In my first two years on county council (2023-24), councilors proposed removing the libraries from millage and bringing them into the county general fund. This was proposed as “fair,” but in truth, it makes the library budget more vulnerable to the whims of future councils and administrators, and pits the library’s funding up against essential services like EMS (which do you think would win during lean times?). I lobbied hard against this change and it held out for two years, until council changed by two members in 2025 and promptly voted the libraries off of their dedicated millage. Our libraries now operate within the county general fund.

In the 2024 election year, the county council incumbents and challengers ran on library issues, with some campaigning specifically on plans to appoint pro-censorship Library Board members. During this contentious time, county councilors appointed new Library Board members (2-3 Board members rotate off every year), and I can say with confidence that well-qualified board applicants – such as folks with degrees in library science, educators, experienced fundraisers and nonprofit board members – were overlooked in favor of applicants whose politics aligned with the idea of censoring certain kinds of books. It was clear to me that councilors had conversations with each applicant about their stance on book policy and library policy (and possibly of the library director). Those newly appointed Library Board members (voted in by the majority of county councilors) went on to vote regularly to remove or move challenged books, though this often failed because they were the minority. The following year, in 2025, when two new county council members had joined council after having run on promises to censor the libraries, they appointed new Library Board members with those same values. That led us to the current Library Board, which has a 5-2 majority of folks ready to change the libraries.

Within weeks of the new 5-2 majority, the Library Board created a new Review of Materials Policy and a new Collections Policy. This new Collections Policy was so onerous to enact in the timeframe given that the library director had to cancel programming to have enough librarians available to review all the books. That announcement about cancelled programs hit the news last week, and soon after the Library Board chair called a special-called meeting, which resulted in a 2-hour meeting in executive session (not public) that ended in firing the library director.

So, to recap: for five years, there has been a call from a vocal minority to remove certain kinds of books from the library. They have led a political pressure campaign that has resulted in: increased challenges at the public library; county councilors appointing a majority of Library Board members who support censorship; a more controlling and limited funding structure for the library; new library book policies; and, finally, the firing of the library director. They also got Sen. Rex Rice to pass a problematic state budget proviso with vague statements about library book content determining state funding. Their work to overtake the library system is nearly complete.

One big problem with this plan: they tripped at the finish line. In the Library Board’s rush to fire the director, they held a meeting so problematic that it has even casual-attention-paying citizens calling foul. The county council will learn more about what happened – and its implications – from the county attorney on Monday (in executive session).

Of note: personnel issues are always private. We may never hear what was said in the meeting, but I don’t think we need to know the details to understand why it was done. What we’ve ended up with is the conclusion of a long plan by a small group to take over the libraries, which are designed to belong to us all. The public should be concerned.

But let’s not throw our hands up. These past few years illustrate how a small, vocal group of people can make a huge difference in local politics. Citizens who care about having robust libraries and protecting the freedom to read should be pressuring their county council members, attending and speaking at Library Board meetings, applying to serve on the Library Board, calling out bad behaviors, and running for county council seats. Pay attention, stay involved, vote, serve – and take back your public institutions.