A New York Library Offers Teens+ in the USA Free 'Books UnBanned'

"Brooklyn Library Offers Access to Banned eBooks to Teens Across the U.S." by Danika Ellis
https://bookriot.com/?p=502813"

In 2021, there were over 1,500 book bans in U.S. school districts, representing over 1,000 unique titles. The books targeted are primarily books by and about people of color (especially by Black authors), books with LGBTQ content, and any title that could be interpreted as promoting social justice.

In response, Brooklyn Public Library, one of the largest library systems in the U.S., has launched the Books UnBanned initiative, which allows anyone across the country between the ages of 13 and 21 to get a free eCard from BPL, which will give them access to 350,000 ebooks and 200,000 audiobooks, as well as access to databases.

The digital library card will be good for a year. Contact information for applying is in the BookRiot article.

The terminology isn't always consistent in these conversations, so here's the meaning of the "book bans" referred to above.

What is a school book ban?
https://pen.org/banned-in-the-usa/#what

PEN America defines a school book ban as any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished.

Further description of the banning process is on the linked page.

I'm not sure but will assume that each of the thousand banned titles in PEN America's list for last year are available in Brooklyn Library's digital collections, despite not all belonging in Young Adult.

Some of the books were certainly meant for young children while others had been selected for college students. A full index is available for viewing.

Here's an update on Brooklyn's Books UnBanned.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/15/us/brooklyn-library-banned-books-access-reaj/inde...