New York Public Library Offers Readers Free, Online Access to Banned Books

In partnership with publishers Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, and Scholastic, the New York Public Library (NYPL) has announced a new initiative to increase access to commonly banned books for readers nationwide. Even without a NYPL library card, anyone can access these books through the SimpleE app on iOS or Android. NYPL cards are only available to those in the state of New York. However, the Brooklyn Public Library is launching its own anti-censorship initiative to give out free library cards nationwide.

NYPL president Tony Marx stated on April 13,

The recent instances of both attempted and successful book banning—primarily on titles that explore race, LGBTQ+ issues, religion, and history—are extremely disturbing and amount to an all-out attack on the very foundation of our democracy. The American Library Association (whose Library Bill of Rights is in clear opposition to any censorship or book banning) recently tracked an unprecedented number of challenges to library, school, and university materials in 2021.

Knowledge is power; ignorance is dangerous, breeding hate and division. All people have the right to read or not read what they want—we are all entitled to make those choices. But to protect those freedoms, the books and information must remain available. Any effort to eliminate those choices stands in opposition to freedom of choice, and we cannot let that happen.

April & May Books

For this initiative, the NYPL chose books with diverse backgrounds, topics, and reasons why they face censorship. These books include King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-Winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. The books can be found in the Books for All Collection with no waits or fines.

Users under 13 years of age can only access King and the Dragon Flies. The topics of sexual assault (Speak), racism (Stamped), and mental illness during adolescence (Catcher in the Rye) can exist in middle-grade literature and deserve to be talked about with kids under 13, but these particular books were just not intended for a younger audience. Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (also frequently facing censorship) is a good alternative, as it touches many of these subjects for younger audiences.

The future of this initiative

With the cutoff to for the initiative on these titles being the end of May (giving readers approximately seven weeks), I hope this continues with each month cycling through books—sort of like The Library Read, facilitated by Overdrive (a.k.a. Libby, the app that helped me fall back in love with reading). Maybe in the coming months, more publishers can join in on this, offering an extra book selection for middle schoolers and perhaps a graphic novel of the month. Many high-profile graphic novels like Genderqueer, Maus, This One Summer, Drama, Persopolis, and New Kid are consistently under attack.

This initiative by the NYPL is more like a Band-Aid solution (for those with access to the internet, consistent power, and a device to download) to a much bigger issue. However, this is a step in the right direction. I would love to see all states step up like this and more. Unfortunately, (stares at Texas and Florida) some are of their elected officials are among the worst perpetrators of book censorship.

(image: New York Public Library)

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