Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) has been providing opportunities for young people across the country to access banned books through their Books Unbanned program since 2022. Books Unbanned provides free digital cards to BPL’s full online collection for young people anywhere in the country. They’ve partnered with five other libraries nationwide–Boston Public Library, Long Beach Public Library, Los Angeles County Public Library, San Diego Public Library, and Seattle Public Library–which also offer their digital cards and collections, meaning that a teen in Idaho could access cards and materials to six world-class libraries for free.
In addition to digital cards, Books Unbanned offers numerous other opportunities for libraries nationwide to help protect the right to read. Among those is the Freedom to Read Teen Advocacy Toolkit, which provides 16+ hours of programming that libraries can use and adapt to educate and prepare young people in their literary advocacy. They also have a Digital Action Kit, a report packed with testimonials from teens nationwide about the impact of Books Unbanned, and they partner with libraries to help build a network of teen advocates.
Books Unbanned just announced a new round of programming funding for 2027. Libraries in the United States are encouraged to consider applying for a one-time $2,500 funding to support a project for teen literary and library advocates. The funding is to be used to develop internship-like initiatives of any size or scale that encourage teens to protect the freedom to read.
“We launched the Teen Library Advocacy Network after the success of our first program funding cohort in 2025,” said BPL’s Manager of Youth Civic Engagement & Expression, Emma Karin Eriksson. “We provided funds and support to primarily small and rural libraries to run programs around advocacy and the freedom to read.”
Programming is crucial for libraries, and, as Eriksson explained, it’s especially vital for meeting the needs and interests of teens. In small and rural libraries, this can be challenging, and BPL’s Books Unbanned program hopes that funding and networking opportunities can help support these needs.
These programs can include offering a Freedom to Read institute during a school break, encouraging current Teen Advisory Boards to create programming for other teens, paying for a teen intern over time, or any number of other creative ideas. The funding use has some restrictions but is flexible–it can be used to pay interns, to cover programming expenses (including food or book giveaways), honoraria for guest speakers, and more. Books Unbanned encourages community partnerships, so libraries are welcome to team up with local organizations to develop their projects.
“With the first cohort, we found the most successful programs were ones run in an internship style where teens would come to repeat events and culminate in an action or project,” said Eriksson.
Winning libraries will receive more than funding, though. They’ll receive the support and mentorship of project advisor Eriksson, as well as the support of prior recipients of the funding. Per Eriksson, this networking project is a way for BPL and Books Unbanned to “share its expertise and experience with libraries who are interested in running programs for teens on advocacy, leadership, and intellectual freedom but don’t have the time or staff to spare to develop them.” The additional support of those involved in the former cohort helps in thinking about the challenges and complexities in those smaller libraries.
Projects in the previous cohort included a banned books dinner theater series, internships that took teens to numerous local organizations to connect with the people and history of their own community, community-wide speaker events coordinated by teens, and more. Some initiatives ran for a full year, while others ran for a shorter period. Funded projects have a calendar year to develop and run their initiatives.
Books Unbanned especially encourages small and rural libraries to apply for the funding, as well as libraries in communities that have experienced book bans.
Applications are open until December 7, with winners announced in early January. The application will take about an hour to complete.
Of note: the entire Books Unbanned program is privately funded, and those interested can support Books Unbanned on its website.
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