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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To wrap up the show today, did you hear that Barack Obama has published an open letter to librarians, that was just on Monday, or that the Brooklyn Public Library is now offering electronic library cards to anyone aged 13 to 26 in the United States? Why? Well, you probably know that a major front in the culture wars these days is libraries. Bookshelves across the country have been stripped of titles like Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, and the list goes on.

Choosing a battleground where it's frowned upon to talk about with a whisper, the library, might seem odd, nonetheless, as book bans have been sweeping the nation, librarians want to scream and they find themselves too often in a precarious position. In that open letter to librarians on Monday, Obama wrote that librarians are on the front lines fighting every day to make the widest possible range of viewpoints, opinions, and ideas available to everyone.

With us now to discuss book bans, their effects on students, the librarians, and very specifically, the Brooklyn Public Library's initiative, Books Unbanned, is Nick Higgins, chief librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library, and one of 2023's Librarians of the Year. Nick, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming on WNYC.

Nick Higgins: Hey, Brian. It is great to be here. It's such a pleasure to be with you. Thank you so much for having me on.

Brian Lehrer: You got to tell us about Books Unbanned. What is this initiative?

Nick Higgins: Yes, sure. Books Unbanned, as you mentioned in your opening, is a response really to the rise in censorship and book bans that were happening all across the country, something that we observed early in 2022. As an institution, we wanted to figure out how we could support, particularly young people across the country who might not have as supportive communities around them or who are facing the business end of some of these censorship efforts where they are, so we decided to create this campaign, this program called Books Unbanned.

The name actually was decided upon by a group of teens here in Brooklyn. It's really teen-born and teen-run, but what it does is it offers anyone in the country aged 13 to 21, not 26, but 21 access--

Brian Lehrer: Oh, 21, sorry.

Nick Higgins: Right. Allows anyone aged 13 to 21 full access to our entire ebook and audiobook collection of over 500,000 titles. Those are banned books and books that are just in our regular collection totally unfettered. They can just write us a letter and let us know what's happening in their communities like why books mean so much to them, why libraries mean so much to them, or anything about their access issues in their own communities. We issue them a free digital library card, and they can access any books that they want to read from Brooklyn Public Library.

Brian Lehrer: Now, we have a few minutes for phone calls. Any other librarians listening who have had any experience working in the current political climate that has resulted in a story of conflict over a book in your library? Maybe it's not happening so much in our immediate listening area, but I don't know, maybe it is, or maybe you're a 14-year-old listening in Alabama right now and you've taken out a Brooklyn Public Library e-library card and taken out a book that's banned in your local public library, or anyone else on the subject with a story to tell or a question, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

What books have you run into being banned or that people have attempted to ban in your school library, in your public library, or whatever? Teachers, librarians, teenagers, anyone else? 212-433-9692 for our guest, Nick Higgins, chief librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library. Do you have any early returns on Books Unbanned yet? Can you tell if teens-- I'm sorry I misstated the age range earlier, so it's teens and people in their earliest 20s, so 13 to 21. Can you see the geographical distribution or people in-- I don't know, we can say some more conservative-leaning states taking out ebooks that have been banned in their communities but taking them out from the Brooklyn Public Library electronically?

Nick Higgins: Oh, yes, sure. Since when we started the program back in April of 2022, we have a little [unintelligible 00:04:53] of the year under our belts right now with Books Unbanned. We have distributed over 6,500 library cards to teens all across the country in all 50 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico. It looks like those young people are checking out on average 8,000 to 9,000 books every month. For us, it's a really wonderful thing that we can provide to people who are in crisis and just want to find that support with the books that they want to read and some help in identifying stories that relate to them.

We're really proud that we're able to offer this service to young people, but it's also really heartbreaking that there is so much response and there's so much going on in the country where young people don't feel welcome in their communities, welcome in their libraries, and spaces like schools where they should be welcome and supported and celebrated. I would like to say too that we didn't envision this program as just being Brooklyn Public Library going out at it alone. We wanted to build a coalition of support of libraries across the country and other advocacy groups.

We partnered with PEN America on a lot of teen freedom-to-read institutes that draw students from across the country to virtual sessions to talk about how to advocate for themselves in their own communities. I would like to shout out Seattle Public Library who launched their own version of Books Unbanned back in April of this year. Actually, their age range is 13 to 26, and maybe that's where the number comes from. They're doing it a little bit differently, but they are still offering full access to their digital collections to anyone in the United States.

In their first month, I think they had something like 2,500 signups for their card. There is a need out there. What's more, there's a need for other organizations, other libraries, and other just concerned citizens to stand up shoulder to shoulder with teens who are bearing brunt of censorship efforts in their communities.

Brian Lehrer: In your year and several months of experience with Books Unbanned then, any top titles you want to cite?

Nick Higgins: Yes. We get that question quite a bit, but it's probably a boring answer, but you know what? Teens, they're accessing the books that they want to read, so they're actually behaving much in the same way that any library user would when they're going into the library. The interests are as diverse as the populations who are using our library. There's no real one book that shoots to the top of the list.

It's not any particular banned book or anything like that, but oftentimes, it's what's popular out there, what other kids are reading. You'll see a spike in circulation on that particular title. The big reveal here is that teens, just like adult users of the library, are curious about what they want to read and the stories that reflect who they are as an individual, and that's what they're checking out.

Brian Lehrer: Kerry in Queens, you're on WNYC. Hi, Kerry.

Kerry: Hi, guys. I'm going to tear up. Thank you for being so cool Brooklyn and New York libraries. I just wanted to point out, when I first heard of the book ban in Florida, I was wondering how dumb, literal, what century to ban books and not know about the internet. I'm like, "How?" Of course, you want to go to a library and feel safe and read every book in the world that's possible, have [unintelligible 00:08:23] libraries.

It's awful what's happening, but at the same time, I'm like, "They can just go to iBooks. There's the internet. How do you not know that they can't ban books?" Of course, they know all the resources they can, and I wanted to thank you guys for stepping up.

Brian Lehrer: Kerry, thank you very much. Let me go right to Matt in Bergen County. You're on WNYC. Hi, Matt.

Matt: Hey, how are you guys doing over there?

Brian Lehrer: Great.

Matt: I wanted to call in. My teen was reading a book that she took out from her classroom in the fall last year. She was a seventh grader, and the content was racy, a discussion of fellatio, pretty graphic. I had no problem with it. I think these book bans are ridiculous, but I find it ironic that there are discussions in our school board meetings about banning books, genderqueer, some of these other titles but no discussion about this one. Copyright 2007. It's been in her class for quite a while. Never brought up, never--

Brian Lehrer: You think because the context was heterosexual?

Matt: I don't think that. Yes, I think that. I know that. I think we all know that. I think it's obvious because this is one example of the countless books that are heterosexual in nature that have never been brought up and discussed, and as soon as these people feel uncomfortable with the subject matter, I think it's pretty clear, Brian, the hypocrisy that we stage.

Brian Lehrer: Interesting story. Matt, thank you very much. We know that the books that have been targets for removal are overwhelmingly authored by or feature members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, other marginalized groups. I want to get before we run out of time, Nick, your quick take on this open letter to librarians published by Barack Obama on Monday.

He wrote in part, "All too often, you are attacked by people who either cannot or will not understand the vital and uniquely American role you play in the life of our nation." Are you feeling staff members at Brooklyn Public Library or anyone else you've been able to speak to kind of encouraged and feel supported by Barack Obama in a way that matters?

Nick Higgins: Yes, sure, no question. No question we feel seen, we feel that finally, it seems like there's a good deal of wind at our backs to push back against some of these efforts to ban books, even at the state level, the marshaling of state energy and power to criminalize librarians and educators. Certainly, we feel energized by our reader president who supports libraries and library workers and sees us, but I also wanted to go back to what Kerry and Matt were saying and what you were saying, Brian, that this isn't really for us. From the very beginning, this wasn't really about books.

This is about a small group of very vocal people in certain communities telling others that they don't have a right to exist, that their stories don't matter, that they don't belong in their communities. It is about marginalizing people and taking away their stories from the public discourse, and it really isn't-- You can certainly find books on online content on the internet, but this is really about people and the right to live in a democratic society.

Brian Lehrer: The Brooklyn Public Library is offering e-library cards to anyone in America, ages 13 to 21. Nick Higgins is the chief librarian of the BPL. Thank you so much for coming on with us.

Nick Higgins: True pleasure. Thank you, Brian.

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