New York Libraries provide free access to thousands of e-books

New York Libraries opposes book bans by giving readers across the US access to their e-books for a set amount of time, reports publishing house timeout.

The New York Public Library is opening access to a selection of banned books through the free SimplyE e-reading app until the end of May. You can read Speak by Laurie Hulse Anderson, The King and the Dragonflies by Kasen Callender, Stamp: Racism, Antiracism and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram H. Candy and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and many more .

Banned Books can be viewed, borrowed and read on any iOS or Android device with the free SimplyE book reader app for kids ages 13 and up. There is a special collection of "Books for Everyone" that has hundreds of non-copyrighted books. This public domain is available to anyone in the country with or without a library card. “Banned Books” will be in this collection with the added bonus of no waiting time to read them.

In addition, the Brooklyn Public Library is offering youth ages 13 to 21 across the country to apply for a free BPL card. It will allow you to access the library's vast collection of e-books. The card will be valid for one year and is designed to provide access to resources for teens in their local communities.

BPL will also provide a selection of frequently discussed books available without delay or waiting to all BPL cardholders through the library's online catalog or the Libby app. Including "Black Flamingo" by Dean Atta, "Tomboy" by Liz Prince, "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, "The 1619 Project" by Nicole Hanna-Jones, "Juliet Takes a Breath" by Gabby Rivera, "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong and The Boy on the Lawn by Jonathan Evison.

Those ages 13 to 21 who access a free BPL e-card will be able to connect with their peers in Brooklyn. To help each other with information and resources to fight censorship, recommend books and protect freedom of reading.

To apply for the card, teens can send a note to [email protected] , or through the library's teen Instagram account @bklynfuture. The $50 fee normally associated with out-of-state cards will be waived. Teenagers are also encouraged to share videos, essays, and stories about the importance of intellectual freedom and the impact book problems and bans have had on their lives.

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The decision to provide access to their e-book collections came after the removal of books on a wide range of topics, including race, gender, LGBT issues, religion and history, from library shelves. The American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom counted more than 700 complaints last year, the most since it began keeping records more than 20 years ago.

The American Library Association currently leads the United Against Banned Books national campaign. And New York's libraries are facing similar challenges as well.

The New York Public Library's Books for All and the Brooklyn Public Library's Books Without Limits aim to support intellectual freedom and free access to knowledge, information and perspectives.

“These recent cases of censorship and book bans are extremely disturbing and represent an all-out assault on the foundation of our democracy,” said Anthony W. Marks, president of the New York Public Library. "Knowledge is power; ignorance is dangerous and breeds hatred and division. Since their inception, public libraries have worked to combat these forces by making all points of view and ideas accessible to all, regardless of background or circumstance.”

Through partnerships with the Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, and Scholastic, as well as the authors of selected titles, the New York Public Library has been able to make them available to everyone. “While this should not be taken as an act of defiance, unfortunately it is. And we are proud to be a part of it,” Marks said.

Linda E. Johnson, President and CEO of the Brooklyn Public Library, says the library "cannot sit idly by while books rejected by the few are removed from library shelves for all." “Books Without Ban will act as an antidote to censorship, offering teens and young adults across the country unlimited access to our extensive collection of e-books and audiobooks. Including those that may be banned from their home libraries,” she said.

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For more titles to read, NYPL has several lists you can check out, including “125 Books We Love for Adults, Kids, and Teens,” “Schomburg Center for Black Liberation Culture Research Reading List,” “ Bright Voices: New Books From Authors of Color” and “Trans, Non-Binary and Out-of-Class Voices”.

And young people in Brooklyn can join the BPL Teen Council for Intellectual Freedom here.

“The role of the library is to make sure that no perspective, no idea, no personality is erased,” Marx said. “It has always been our role: to provide people with reliable information. A teenager who has questions and wants to find answers to them privately. An adult who is interested in topics in which he has no personal experience. Those who want to make informed decisions based on facts. Since the founding of our great nation, libraries have been beacons of this kind of independent curiosity and learning. And it is unacceptable that they be subjected to any censorship.”