The Foundation is proud to support the Books Unbanned program at The Seattle Public Library, fully funded through donations to the Foundation’s Equity & Access Fund. Give today!
In April 2023, SPL joined Brooklyn Public Library in offering teens and young adults across the nation free access to the books in its digital collections. Boston, LA County, and San Diego have now joined the movement as well!
Read the April 2024 report on the program, “In Their Own Words: Youth Voices on Books Unbanned,” featuring testimonials from young people accessing Seattle and Brooklyn’s programs.
Read the April 2024 Seattle Times article on the report and the impact of the program’s first year.
How many people have signed up?
As of April 2024, more than 8,000 young readers have signed up, from all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam. New cardholders have checked out more than 137,000 digital books.
How is the program funded?
Books Unbanned is entirely funded by donors to the Foundation’s Equity & Access Fund – not by public resources. The Foundation has raised more than $200,000 for Books Unbanned.
Why is this program necessary?
Books Unbanned counters the increasing attempts to censor what young people read. The vast majority of recent bans target books by or about people of color and LGBTQ+ people.
Who can get an e-card?
Anyone between the ages of 13 to 26, living anywhere in the United States (outside of King County, WA), can fill out an application here.
What can readers access?
All e-books and audiobooks in the library’s collections are available to Books Unbanned cardholders, who can check out up to 10 digital books at a time.
Read our Fall 2023 newsletter story on the first few months of Books Unbanned.
Read our full announcement of the Books Unbanned initiative.