Unlike most librarians, Jamie McCabe spends much of his day behind the wheel.
As the Avery-Mitchell-Yancey (AMY) Regional Library System bookmobile librarian, he dedicates one day per week in each county, stopping at senior centers, after-school programs, day care centers and many homeschools. The bookmobile is stocked with “a ton of Christian fiction,” McCabe says, explaining the genre is popular with older readers. One day a week, McCabe traverses all three counties in an outreach van delivering books; these are mostly large-print editions for readers who are homebound.
But his route may be shorter now that Yancey County decided to pull out of the regional system, a decision sparked by some vocal residents who objected to gay pride displays. At a June 28 meeting, which was posted 48 hours in advance, Yancey County Commission Chair Jeff Whitson made a motion to direct County Manager Lynn Austin to begin pulling Yancey County Public Library out of the AMY system, effective July 1, 2025. (The AMY system is composed of four libraries across three counties; Mitchell has two branches, and the others have one each.)
The motion was passed unanimously by the Yancey County Board of Commissioners, while AMY Regional Library Director Amber Westall Briggs was out of state, attending a library conference in California. On Aug. 2, Briggs released a public statement addressing Yancey’s commissioners.
“This past year has been a tremendous gain from a financial perspective because for the first time in 20+ years, regional library systems were given a recurring increase in state aid,” Briggs wrote. “We are so well equipped to serve our communities, and that was made possible by directors across the state who serve on those committees, me included, and our representatives at the state level listened to and awarded funding. Why withdraw now? Why pay for what the State already provides?”
Briggs continued, “I work with the best people, kind and giving, dedicated to competent service above self and to the adults and children they serve. To hear that the Yancey County commissioners decided to withdraw is heartbreaking to us.”
Yancey County Manager Austin did not respond to multiple requests for comment via email and phone. Yancey County Attorney Donnie Laws did not respond to multiple phone messages requesting comment.
Commissioners Whitson, Vice Chair David Grindstaff, Stacey McEntyre Greene and Mark Ledford did not respond to multiple requests for comment. When reached by phone, Commissioner Sandy Norton told Xpress, “I have no comment.”
When asked for an interview with Xpress via Facebook Messenger, Yancey County local library board chair Christy Edwards responded, “No way! Go away! The county commissioners did the right thing! Have a great day!”
‘Everyone is Welcome Here’
AMY regional library branches have put up Pride displays for years, including eight years at Yancey Public Library.
Criticism about LGBTQ+ materials within the AMY regional system date to 2022, when complaints were made to the Spruce Pine and Yancey County public libraries, claiming their Pride displays were “promoting” being LGBTQ+, according to Briggs.
Conflict intensified the following year. During June 2023, three branches — Avery Morrison, Spruce Pine and Yancey (which is in Burnsville) — assembled Pride Month displays featuring books about LGBTQ+ topics and by LGBTQ+ authors. The display in Burnsville included a rainbow flag saying, “Everyone is Welcome Here,” and a smaller “Everyone is Welcome Here” sign at the front desk.
Spruce Pine and Avery Morrison libraries both received complaints about the Pride displays, Briggs says. In response, she spoke with their town manager and county manager, respectively, and they were satisfied with the conversations she had with them, she continues. The Burnsville branch also received some complaints. Briggs described an incident in June 2023 when a woman came to its front desk and said, “If you have that pedophile flag in here, you must be pedophiles.” Additionally, callers began harassing library employees, calling the people who answered the phone “pedophiles” and “groomers.”
According to Briggs, Yancey County resident Sheila Poehler called her in June 2023 and shared her concern that children could see the Pride Month books on display near the reference desk. Following their call, Briggs says Poehler came into Yancey Public Library and spoke with an assistant librarian; Burnsville branch manager Wayne Edwards contacted Poehler following the visit. Briggs says she and Edwards both suggested Poehler complete “request for review” forms about the materials that concerned her.
The request forms trigger a process by which the library reviews any materials residents might find objectionable. Briggs, who receives such requests as the library director, said Poehler did not complete any forms.
Poehler sent an email to Yancey Public Library staff that read, in part, according to Carolina Public Press, “Parents of young children should not be put in the position of having to explain LGBTQ, etc. to their kids.”
Poehler did not respond to requests for comment from Xpress.
Aversion to books about LGBTQ+ topics or the Pride flag isn’t representative of how the majority of AMY system patrons feel, Briggs says. She and McCabe, the bookmobile librarian, tell Xpress they both personally know LGBTQ+ adult and teen patrons. And Briggs says sometimes grandparents come to the public library looking for resources because a grandchild recently came out as gay.
“We have so many accounts like that,” Briggs continues. “To frame this [situation as] this large group of people that are upset with the library is inaccurate.”
First attempt
The Yancey County Board of Commissioners first proposed removing the county from the AMY system at its June 2023 meeting. As reported by Asheville Citizen Times, Chair Whitson made a motion directing County Manager Austin to research “the process of taking all necessary steps in taking control of the current library system and making it a county-run library, an operation showing no bias to any religious, political or ethnic platform with oversight from the Yancey County Board of Commissioners until a proper new library board can be established.”
Each local library has its own advisory board, which can make recommendations but cannot make library policy; a representative from each local board serves on the regional library board, which does set policy. The regional library board governs the AMY system and manages the library director.
The motion was tabled after Green requested more time to examine the process.
Briggs says the AMY system has been receptive to the compromises proposed. For example, this spring Yancey Public Library removed small rainbow flags above the “new books” section. (These were not specifically Pride decorations, Briggs says; they were up all the time.) Librarians also removed the “Everyone is Welcome Here” from the reference desk. “This is not something staff supported,” Briggs explains. “This is something we were asked to do by the board, and we were willing to make accommodations.”
Despite these compromises, “the employees at Yancey have been harassed, called pedophiles and groomers, all because of a book display,” Briggs wrote in the public statement she released this month. The harassing phone calls continued; she tells Xpress “three or four regulars” have “called over and over again,” based on their caller IDs.
Meanwhile, seven new members have been added to both the regional and Yancey County library boards.
Among the five new members of the Yancey County Local Library Board are Poehler, who contacted Briggs and the library staff about Yancey Public Library’s Pride display in June 2023, and commission Chair Whitson. Whitson had also been appointed to the regional library board but was removed due to lack of attendance, per the AMY regional library system bylaws, Briggs says.
On Aug. 12, three Yancey County commissioners — Norton, Green and Ledford — voted to add themselves to the Yancey County local library board. The four County Commission members on the library board constitute a quorum of the five-member County Commission.
‘Stand against degeneracy’
Knowing her employees have been called “groomers” and “pedophiles” is “highly distressing, it’s untrue, and it’s cruel,” Briggs wrote to Xpress in a July 30 email. But the library director emphasizes that “angry voices truly have been minimal and from the same individuals.”
The situation prompted a solidarity walk July 8 in support of the local library that drew 300 people. The solidarity walk culminated at the courthouse, so county residents could sign up for public comment at the Yancey County Board of Commissioners meeting that day.
Some counterprotesters at the solidarity walk were from the N.C. Alliance for Families. According to its Facebook page, it’s a group “to combat the rising tide of tyranny eroding parental rights and childhood innocence in North Carolina.” The group objects to books like This Book Is Gay, a young adult nonfiction book, and Lawn Boy, a young adult novel.
The N.C. Alliance for Families’ Facebook group called its supporters to “come out and stand against degeneracy” at the walk, writing on an Instagram post “all upstanding Christian men and supporters of family values are asked to attend in support of the North Carolina Alliance of Families.”
When contacted over email, John Mulvaney, director of the N.C. Alliance for Families, responded, “We are not interested in speaking with you at this time.”
Funding confusion
What effect pulling out of the regional system will have on Yancey County is unclear.
Money for the regional library system comes from the state and from member counties, all of which is shared across the system, explains Briggs.
The AMY system shares a children’s librarian, a digital literacy librarian, the bookmobile librarian (McCabe), the bookmobile itself and the outreach van, says Briggs.
Children and the elderly may be most impacted by a reduction in services. The children’s librarian handles the summer reading program, in addition to story times that primarily service preschool-age readers, Briggs says. McCabe’s bookmobile frequently visits senior centers, nursing facilities and Yancey residents at home who often need large-print books.
Briggs notes that it’s difficult to put a dollar amount on what portion of the funding for regional services goes only to Yancey County residents, as so many are shared. She says she is conducting a full inventory of the technology, books and services to calculate that dollar amount.
The AMY regional funding provides science equipment that is used by homeschoolers, and “almost all books” and other materials, Briggs says. AMY regional funding and grants purchase technology, Briggs continues, explaining that the upcoming inventory will determine what specific funding or grants purchased computers, printers, copiers and support for Wi-Fi hot spots at Yancey County Public Library.
Yancey County Manager Austin released a statement Aug. 5 disputing the county’s public library services would decrease if it left the system.
“The Yancey County Commissioners are looking forward to continuing services at the Yancey County Library,” Austin wrote. “I have had discussions with the State Library Employees and have been reassured that Yancey County will be able to receive the same funding that the AMY system received on behalf of Yancey County. There is no evidence to support the idea that library services will be lost. The Commissioners look forward to continuing all the services that we currently have, and we realize what a valuable resource having a public library is to the community.”
When asked for comment in response to Austin’s statement, Briggs said, “It is factual that regional services will be lost.”
Impact on Mitchell and Avery counties
If Yancey County Public Library leaves the AMY system, it could affect funding for Mitchell and Avery counties too. Exactly how is also unclear.
Debbie McLean, branch manager for Avery County Morrison Public Library, directed questions about a potential withdrawal of Yancey County’s impact on the Avery County system to Briggs. The Avery County Board of Commissioners did not respond to emails requesting comment.
Melinda Boyd, branch manager for Mitchell County Public Library, declined to comment.
In an email to Xpress, Mitchell County Board of Commissioners Chair Harley Masters wrote, “As far as the future effect of Yancey County’s withdrawal, we are reviewing the library system’s budget. We also plan to review with their Board of Directors to evaluate the financial impact of having one less member in the AMY system.”
CORRECTION, AUGUST 28: This article has been updated with the correct spelling of Amber Westall Briggs’ name and the number of Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library System branches in Mitchell County.
The obsession the right has with gay people ranks among the most bizarre in today’s so called social and political “discourse.” The fact that so many involved in this story refuse to respond to questions (or even acknowledge them) for this story says a lot about the lack of willingness to stand up for this obsession.
Here’s an easy solution. Don’t like a book in the library? Don’t read it.