A Georgia senate bill aimed at detaching the state from the American Library Association (ALA) could send ripples throughout Georgia’s public library system and the state university that trains librarians.

Senate Bill 390 would put a firewall between Georgia libraries and ALA. Effective on July 1, 2025 if enacted, it would remove ALA as an accrediting organization within the state and would ban ALA and its affiliates from receiving taxpayer—and even privately donated—funds for the association’s materials, services, or operations. The ban would cover counties, municipalities, and school districts.

The bill has raised concerns about the impact of abandoning ALA accreditation for schools offering a library and information science (LIS) degree, with some senators noting that the association has a monopoly on setting standards for LIS education. The possibility of discontinuing accreditation from ALA leaves open the question of what organization would replace it, they said.

ALA accredits master’s programs in LIS studies through an external review process conducted by practitioners and academics. Many employers require an ALA-accredited master’s degree and some states require it for those seeking work as a professional librarian in public and school libraries.

A QUESTION OF IDEOLOGY

SB390 is sounding alarms within the library community but has gained the support of conservative groups. Representatives from both sides recently delivered testimony before the Senate Committee on Government Oversight.

At the heart of the bill is the view of its sponsors that the ALA, instead of maintaining its political neutrality, is using the accreditation process to promote a radical left-wing ideology. The bill’s language states that “The bureaucracy that has developed around the certification of librarians has become heavily intertwined with and influenced by the American Library Association.” It also notes that “the President of the American Library Association has declared herself to be a Marxist.”

The reference is to a 2022 tweet by current ALA President Emily Drabinski, which she has since deleted. Bill sponsor Larry Walker III, a Republican from Perry in Houston County, told the committee, “I just question what kind of organization would elect somebody that is a self-described Marxist lesbian and says some of the things she says.”

Walker described himself as “a pretty tolerant individual,” but said the association crossed his radar when he learned about a $20,000 ALA grant received by the library across the street from his insurance business, to be used for the purchase of adult materials focused on LGBTQIA+ and other subjects.

After being contacted by members of the public, he said, he met with the Houston County library board and voiced his concern that it was not a reflection of the values of the community and was especially not appropriate in the children’s section. He was met, he said, with defiance.

In its statement opposing the bill, which is “based on false narratives that would restrict ALA and its resources for no valid reason,” ALA insisted that it is a nonpartisan organization. “Contrary to claims made by proponents of this legislation, the ALA does not promote any ‘ideology.’ For almost 150 years, ALA has served as the preeminent nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services in the United States and the preservation of publicly funded libraries as community institutions that provide free and unfettered access to a wide range of information and ideas for all people.”

The statement continued, “The beliefs of any one member of the association do not define the association. In fact, ALA does not espouse any political belief other than a commitment to the freedoms identified in our nation’s founding documents that are essential for our democracy.”

Moreover, it warns that organizations in other sectors, among them business, legal, health, education, trades, “should be concerned about this arbitrary effort to restrict the freedom of trade, the freedom of speech, and freedom to associate.”

LOSING ACCREDITATION

During the committee meeting, Sen. Elena Parent told Walker, “There is a lot of data, dozens and dozens of studies demonstrating that when there is a strong library program and certification, it can move student achievement significantly. You’re dissolving the certification of librarians. I just don’t know that the problem you’re identifying…merits upending a system that’s been shown to really improve student results.”

Some of the difficulties involved with walking away from ALA accreditation were outlined by Julie Walker, state librarian and the vice chancellor for libraries and archives in the university system of Georgia, in her testimony.

“As in many other professions, certification makes Georgia a destination for library professionals and helps us to maintain the highest standards in library service,” she said. “The state’s considerable investment in public libraries is protected when trained and experienced professionals are managing the budgets, staffing, facilities, and collections of our libraries.”

Walker emphasized that Georgia’s libraries are completely independent from ALA in their governance, finances, and outlook, and that her agency, the Georgia Public Library Service, is not a member of ALA.

David Slykhuis, dean of the James L. and Dorothy H. Dewar College of Education and Human Services at Valdosta State University (VSU), detailed how the impact would fall heavily on the university, which has seen growth in its master’s LIS program from 292 students in 2018 to 400 students this year.

The accreditation, he said, allows its graduates to obtain jobs after completing a competitive program with a national reputation. In fact, he said, the accreditation is “often the deciding factor for many of our students. It assures [that] VSU graduates will be prepared to meet the ever changing needs of the public library, including a heavy dose of information technology.”

Slykhuis continued, “The majority of professional positions in publicly funded public libraries, public and private university libraries, and public and private special collections libraries require a master’s degree from an accredited MLS program as a condition of employment.”

Beyond the impact on VSU’s students, the shockwaves created by the loss of accreditation would be felt in a program that brings in more than $3.5 million in tuition revenue annually.

Alan Harkness, director of Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, told Library Journal that accreditation is “a recruitment tool for Georgia, and it’s also a retention tool to have that accreditation at Valdosta State.”

It would also affect professional development, he added. “I've got a group of people, including a couple of board members, who are going to PLA”—the biennial conference of the Public Library Association, a division of ALA. “At some point, we wouldn’t be able to do that.”

As for the RDA (Resource Description and Access) cataloging toolkit that the state library provides his library, “that legally would not be something that we could do,” since ALA is the seller of the toolkit and the bill would prohibit government money being paid to ALA.

The Georgia Public Library System purchases the toolkit for all public libraries in the state, and GALILEO, a division of the library system and a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, does the same for academic libraries.

“Long-term, the lack of [the RDA toolkit] will make finding material harder over time,” Harkness said, and added, speaking as an ALA member for 35 years, “I strongly believe that you should be a member of your professional association.”

The concern over the fallout on the library workforce from the lack of accreditation has been the focus of much conversation, said Erin Dreiling, executive director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Foundation, an organization that does fundraising and advocacy for the Fulton County library system.

“It’s already difficult to fill these crucial positions, especially here in Georgia, because of limited professional pipelines,” she told LJ. “How much more difficult it would be to attract national talent if we were not aligned with a certifying body, which is the American Library Association.”