As providers of free and open access to all information and all perspectives, public libraries have a clear role to play in fighting such censorship. This is more than double the challenges tracked in 2019, and the books being challenged often focus on race, LGBTQ+ issues, religion, and history. The American Library Association (ALA) recently announced that it tracked an “unprecedented” number of challenges to library, school, and university materials in 2021: 729 challenges to 1,597 individual books. We’re challenging New Yorkers to read a selection of 10 books that represent voices, identities, and perspectives that book banning threatens to erase. The New York Public Library is building on its efforts to combat recent trends in nationwide book bans and challenges by teaming up with Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library to present a new initiative: the NYC Banned Books Challenge.
