Baldwin County cuts courier service to Fairhope Library after state funding loss
Commission says hands are tied after library loses state funds over book compliance dispute
FAIRHOPE, Ala. (WALA) - Baldwin County commissioners announced Tuesday, January 20, 2026 they will cut courier service to the Fairhope Library after the facility lost state funding last week.
The decision was announced at the Baldwin County Commission meeting, where dozens of citizens with the Read Freely Alabama group attended to express opposition to the move.
“What we have found out is that library has lost its state funds,” said Jeb Ball, chairman of the Baldwin County Commission. “What we provide for that library is a courier service and in order to provide that courier service, the state funds was hitched to that and so since the state funds has been denied to that library, we will no longer provide that courier service and that’s what a lot of the people were upset about.”
State funding cancelled over book compliance
The Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) cancelled state funding due to non-compliance. APLS board chairman John Wahl said the library failed to remove books the board deems to have sexually inappropriate materials from the child and teen sections.
“The question is should taxpayer funded libraries take measures to safeguard children from such materials and I think that’s a question that we have to answer,” Wahl said before announcing the funding cut last week.
The debate between Read Freely Alabama and Fairhope Faith Collective has been ongoing for more than a year. Rebecca Watson, head of Fairhope Faith Collective, said the library was given time to comply with moving targeted books from the children’s sections.
“It began with, ‘There are no sexually explicit books in the minor section’ to ‘There’s just a couple’ to now we’ve moved ten, so it’s a slow burn with the realization that they have to comply, and they refused to move the final ten books, and this is the result,” Watson said.
Read Freely Alabama supporters said the decision feels like punishment.
“They don’t like what Fairhope citizens did. They don’t like what the City Council did, so their idea is to punish them. It’s petty and punitive and I don’t think that this service has anything to with the culture wars,” said Mia Luciamanifold with Read Freely Alabama.
Impact on county library system
The courier service cut affects resource sharing between libraries across the county. Residents who visit smaller libraries with limited inventories can no longer request books be brought over from Fairhope.
“It’s a sad day when those resources, those taxpayer resources are not able to be shared,” said Autumn Zellner with Read Freely Alabama.
Concerned residents packed into State Senator Chris Elliott’s office next to the Baldwin County Commission chambers Tuesday morning, seeking an explanation for why state library funding is tied to the county’s book courier service. With the legislature in session, they will have to wait for that answer.
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