Libraries fight book bans with free e-cards

There were 10,000 instances of book bans at public schools in the 2023-24 school year, according to PEN America.

- BY ANNIE GOODYKOONTZ

LONG BEACH and other SoCal libraries now offer digital access to books through Books Unbanned.

In 2024, 5,813 titles were challenged in public libraries and schools nationwide, says the American Library Assn.

"So many books for young people are being taken off the shelf," said Fritzi Bodenheimer, spokesperson for the Brooklyn Public Library in New York. "If you're a young person, you know, you're 14 or 15 years old and you're just discovering yourself and maybe you think that you might be a member of the LGBTQ community and all those books are taken off the shelf. What message does that send to you? That you're a bad person? That you're dangerous?"

To combat book censorship, some Southern California public libraries, including Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Diego, are joining libraries nationwide to provide access to online library cards. Children as young as 13 can get a free e-card to access the libraries' catalog of e-books and audiobooks, without parental permission and without any challenges they may face to get a book in their local library.

Long Beach is the latest public library to join this effort, a project known as Books Unbanned that was started by the Brooklyn Public Library. The project's website calls it a response to "support the freedom to read." Public schools and libraries in Texas, Tennessee and Florida faced the most challenges to book titles in 2024. In the American Library Assn.'s Top 10 Most Challenged Books report from that year, all titles mentioned were challenged for sexually explicit material; some were also cited for featuring LGBTQ+ content, depictions of drug use and sexual assault, and profanity.

Some parents filing complaints believe early access to content featuring these topics can confuse children, and they believe they should have more of a say in what their children read.