By Natalie Canalis
Free digital Long Beach Public Library cards will soon be available to teens across the nation in an effort to offset bookbanning in other parts of the country, thanks to a new partnership between Long Beach and the Brooklyn Public Library.
While book-banning attempts are rare in Long Beach, with the most recent challenge at the library failing in 2016, the practice is not uncommon. In 2024, the American Library Association recorded challenges to 2,452 different books across the country. The association said the majority of those challenges came from organized movements, many targeting sexual or LGBTQ+ content.
Books Unbanned, a program started by the Brooklyn Public Library in 2022, provides access to that library’s — as well as the Boston, LA County, San Diego and Seattle Public Libraries’ — online catalog to United States teens and young adults aged 13 to 21.
“We started Books Unbanned in April 2022, and we really did it in response to all the stories we were hearing about books being banned across the country. … We wanted to figure out a way to get books in the hands of young people who were being denied them,” said Fritzi Bodenheimer, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn Public Library. “We just didn’t feel like, as a public library, we could just sit back and watch this happen.”
The Long Beach City Council voted on July 22 to join the program by authorizing the city manager to execute a license agreement and memorandum of understanding between the city of Long Beach and Brooklyn Public Library.
Read more at: https://lbpost.com/news/education/long-beach-will-open-up-its-e-book-library-so-teens-from-other-states-can-read-banned-books
