The Cumberland County Public Library’s eight libraries are refreshing their displays this week as Pride Month came to a close on Monday. LGBTQ+ books like The In-Between Bookstore and Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert will be swapped for other titles.
The change in displays doesn’t mean the library system’s efforts to support the LGBTQ+ community are over. The system is committed to representing every part of Cumberland County on its shelves and in its programs year-round, library officials told CityView.
“It’s important for everyone to see themselves in the books and the resources that we have, no matter who they are,” said Assistant County Manager Faith Phillips, who simultaneously worked as library director until last week, when Heather Hall, who served as deputy library director, was promoted to the position.
Phillips said providing access to all information is “a core tenet of librarianship.” She and Hall agreed that the role of the library is to provide information, no matter whether a resident wants to know how to navigate their sexuality or how to cook vegan food.
The library system has expanded its collection of books that represent the LGBTQ+ community. Since January 2020, the system has increased the number of titles classified as sexuality and gender in Collection HQ, a tool that applies algorithmic classification to library materials, by 250%. As of June 2025, the system has 3,188 unique print titles related to sexuality and gender.
For the past two fiscal years, the library system has added an average of 49,000 new books and audiovisual materials. Besides gender and sexuality, new materials cover topics like mental health, culture and faith traditions, and cognitive and learning differences.
Which books get onto the library system’s shelves is determined by residents, selectors and the policies set by the system’s board of trustees. Residents can request that the library purchase a book. A trained selector will review the request and approve or deny it based on board policies and criteria like whether the book is up to date and if it would circulate, Hall explained.
Hidden Lives and Secret Loves by Lee Wind. Credit: Morgan Casey / CityView
“Our job is to provide information. It’s not to ask, ‘Hey, why do you need this?’” Hall said. “If you need this information, we will find what you’re looking for.”
County librarians can help residents select books through BookMatch, a personalized online reader-book matching service. The service, broken down into children, teen and adult sections, has residents fill out a questionnaire about their interests to help the librarian pull titles they might like to read. While it does not include a specific LGBTQ+ selection, Phillips said residents can specify that interest in the questionnaire’s open-ended questions.
“I think that’s a really great way for us to support and to celebrate Pride Month,” Phillips said. “We do it all year. We do it all year for everybody.”
Hall added that the library system’s Rainbow Skies book club, which highlights books with LGBTQ+ representation, is also a source of year-round pride. This month’s meeting will discuss Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White, a story about a transgender teen navigating his town’s oppressive politics.
The Cumberland County Public Library’s year-round support for pride comes amid ongoing attacks and bans on books featuring LGBTQ+ characters and themes. The main group responsible for book bans is Moms for Liberty, a right-wing political activism group that advertises itself as a “parental rights group.”
Krystal Maddox, Fayetteville PRIDE president, previously told CityView that she is worried about the impact the Moms for Liberty Cumberland County chapter will have on local anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment.
Other anti-LGBTQ+ campaigns like Hide the Pride have already impacted North Carolina. Hide the Pride encourages people nationwide to check out books featuring LGBTQ+ characters and themes from their local libraries to protest them being on the shelves.
Last summer, the Yancey County Board of Commissioners voted to pull its library from a regional system after a years-long fight over its LGBTQ+ books and displays, according to The Assembly’s reporting. The fight was, in part, prompted by Hide the Pride.
At Cumberland County Public Library, Phillips and Hall said it’s the responsibility of parents and guardians to determine what is appropriate for themselves and their families. Titles are shelved in children’s, teen and adult sections based on age appropriateness. Hall said librarians are constantly looking at book series’ content to determine whether they need to be reclassified.
Parents can also opt to sign their young person up for a children’s library card, which only allows them to check out materials from the children’s collection.
“While we provide access to the information, it is not our role or responsibility to choose what is right for someone else’s family,” Hall said. “We really respect the autonomy of parents and guardians. But we will always champion access to information and resources, that’s never going to change.”
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville.