Brooklyn Public Library is offering free digital library cards to young adults in the US

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The Brooklyn Public Library is allowing anyone in the US 13 to 21 years old to apply for a digital library card. The library's entire ebook collection is accessible to teens and young adults regardless of where they are in the United States.

The initiative, called Books Unbanned, is fighting what the BPL describes as an effort to remove books that tackle a wide range of topics from library shelves.

The majority of the books that were challenged or removed were written by people of color and targeted a teenage audience. In Llano, Texas, books including Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen were removed from shelves, and the head of the town's governing body questioned whether the town should have libraries, according to emails obtained through public record requests. The Granbury Independent School District pulled over 100 books, only to return them to the library system after students and the American Civil Liberties Union criticized them.

In addition to the library cards offered to any person in the US between the ages of 13 and 21, the Brooklyn Public Library has also made a selection of Ebooks and audiobooks that are frequently banned or challenged at other locations. There is a full list of frequently challenged books on the ALA website.

You can apply for a BPL digital library card by email. You can find more information about banned books on the BPL website.