COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga () – The Freedom To Read Coalition of Columbia County was outside the Columbia County Library this morning protesting guidelines that were put in place in September.

These guidelines would move books in the county’s public libraries based on content which has many Columbia County citizens frustrated.

The county’s new plan is to withdraw from the Greater Clark’s Hill Library Region and become its own single county region within the state library system.  

Officials with the county say this move is for the library to be more independent so they can address the citizens’ needs.  

Many feel this change is an excuse to move and remove books from the libraries. 

“Moving the book from where it’s supposed to be is a form of censorship and is essentially book banning. Taking it from where it was supposed to be and you’re making it harder to find, in a sense you’re hiding it, you’re trying to hide it in the library from the audience that it was intended to be written for,” said Karin Parham, CEO of Freedom to Read Coalition Columbia County.

Many say they feel the commissioners are censoring materials at libraries when it should be up to the parent or person to decide what they or their children will read.

“If we are a free country, free people read freely. We don’t need the government coming in and enforcing these weird guidelines to tell us what books are available. I think that every parent is more than capable of watching their own child in the library and deciding for themselves if a book is okay or not okay,” Parham said.

Parham says she loves seeing the community come together for any issue going on and fight for what they believe in.

“I just think it’s great to see our community engaged in ways that we’re passionate about and this is a way for people to be involved in their local community and in community government, we have a voice, and we have more of a voice here locally than we do on a national level,” said Parham.

The move will be effective on January 1st of 2026.