Legislation proposes banning use of Georgia tax dollars for American Library Association, affiliates

ATLANTA — A group of 22 Georgia state senators proposed new legislation that would prevent any Georgia tax dollars from being used for the purchase or funding of materials, services or operations offered by the American Library Association or its affiliates.

The legislation, Senate Bill 390, says “the bureaucracy that has developed around the certification of librarians has become heavily intertwined with and influenced by the American Library Association,” and that the current ALA president is a self-declared Marxist.

As a result, the bill says the ALA is using the librarian certification process to promote a political ideology and that Georgia taxpayers do not want to use tax dollars to support this.

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Currently, Georgia requires librarians be certified by the ALA to work as librarians at public libraries, which the proposed bill says “has not benefitted the residents of this state.”

The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office currently lists a requirement for certified librarians to receive their certificate from a program accredited by the ALA. No alternative options are currently listed for state approval of a librarian certification. The bill does not provide additional options.

The bill says the Georgia Library Association, which is an affiliate of the American Library Association, should no longer be involved in this affiliation. The bill does not include examples of initiatives or programming that specifically promote specific ideologies in the findings it cites as reason for proposal.

Additionally, the bill calls for the state to no longer require librarians working at public libraries be certified by the ALA or allow public money to be used to support the organization.

SB 390 specifically would ban the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia, as well as any city, county or regional public library trustees, from using public or private funds to pay for the materials, services, or programs offered by the ALA and its affiliates.

The bill also bans the Georgia Department of Administrative Services from accepting bids or proposals made by the American Library Association or any of its affiliates for state contracts.

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It is worth noting that the current official listing of affiliated organizations of the American Library Association contains 27 institutions, including the following:

• American Association of Law Libraries
• American Indian Library Association
• Association for Information Science and Technology
• American Theological Library Association
• Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA)
• Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association
• Association for Library and Information Science Education
• Association for Rural and Small Libraries
• Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services
• Association of Jewish Libraries
• Association of Research Libraries
• Beta Phi Mu
• Black Caucus of ALA
• Catholic Library Association
• Chinese American Librarians Association
• The Joint Council of Librarians of Color
• Latino Literacy Now
• Library and Information Association of New Zealand (LIANZA)
• Literacy Nation
• Medical Library Association
• Music Library Association
• Online Audiovisual Catalogers
• Patent and Trademark Resource Center Association
• Polish American Librarians Association
• REFORMA
• Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials
• Theatre Library Association

Should this legislation pass in the Georgia Assembly, the variety of materials held in Georgia’s public library and university library systems could be broadly impacted, due to the scope of materials the affiliated organizations cover.

As proposed, and without any revisions, modifications, or legislative substitutions, the materials that could be potentially impacted include topics on legal cases and precedent, literacy initiatives to increase reading comprehension and capabilities in Georgia, stage production scripts and analyses, research and books on and from Latin American literature and texts, medical texts, patent and trademark research, Chinese-American literature and materials, Jewish library materials and texts and more.

The bill does not specify if the current materials obtained on loan or through cooperative agreements with the ALA would require removal, nor if current agreements would be voided, should they exist.

The bill also does not specify how the materials in question, be they archival documents or any books, would be either re-obtained without using the offerings of the ALA, nor is there a series of carved out exemptions for future materials and trainings.

Channel 2 Action News has reached out to senate staff of the bill’s sponsors for specifics on how these questions may be answered during the legislative session. We have also reached out to the University System of Georgia for information about the scope of relevant materials currently in the USG collections.

An ALA spokeswoman provided the following response to the legislation:

“The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization. While we respect the rights of individuals to exercise their freedom of thought and expression, ALA does not align with, endorse, or promote the political beliefs, values, or ideologies of any one individual—including its elected leaders and members. ALA is guided by a single mission: “to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.”

If passed, the legislation would take effect on July 1, 2025.

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