The Brooklyn Public Library’s Nationwide Library Card to Access Banned Books
For a limited time, the Brooklyn Public Library is offering a free electronic library card to any person ages 13 to 21, anywhere in the US. This move, which grants access to 500,000 digital works (including an array of books banned in certain states, like Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird) is an attempt to combat increasing censorship measures in school libraries. “This is an intellectual freedom to read initiative,” Nick Higgins, the Chief Librarian for the Brooklyn Public Library, says in a statement. “We’ve been paying attention to a lot of the book challenges and bans that have been taking place, particularly over the last year in many places across the country… We don’t necessarily experience a whole lot of that here in Brooklyn, but we know that there are library patrons and library staff who are facing these and we wanted to figure out a way to step in and help, particularly for young people.” Read more about the effort at Open Culture.
Image courtesy of Brooklyn Public Library
Via openculture.com link opens in a new window
