New App Offers Teens Free Access To Banned Books

The Guardian reports:

For the past two years, book banning has been on the rise in schools and libraries across the US, mainly due to far-right pressure. Now the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) is trying to fight back. It recently launched the Banned Book Program, granting free nationwide access to books restricted in schools or libraries.

It functions through GPS-based geo-targeting; by typing in your zip code, you are shown the complete list of titles prohibited in your area. Once you download the Palace e-reader app, these books are available to download. The DPLA’s Banned Book Program is not the first online resource of its kind in the US.

In April 2022, the Brooklyn Public Library in New York launched Books Unbanned, giving anyone between the ages of 13 and 21 a free library card to download ebooks from their collection. The venture was successful; over 6,000 teens from all 50 states signed up, checking out roughly 100,000 online books.

Read the full article.

‘Knowledge is power’: new app helps US teens read books banned in school https://t.co/w10EzwPJgk pic.twitter.com/k0I4zMahrJ

— Guardian Weekly (@guardianweekly) August 18, 2023

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