The New York Public Library is making some 1,500 books that have recently been requested to be removed from libraries across the country in the last year available for free, NPR reported.
Called Books for All, the initiative will give readers ages 13 and older access to the titles through its app until the end of May with no wait times or fines, the report said.
"The recent instances of both attempted and successful book banning — primarily on titles that explore race, LGBTQ+ issues, religion, and history — are extremely disturbing and amount to an all-out attack on the very foundation of our democracy," Tony Marx, president of the New York Public Library, said in the NPR story.
"Knowledge is power; ignorance is dangerous, breeding hate and division ... Since their inception, public libraries have worked to combat these forces simply by making all perspectives and ideas accessible to all."
The program launched Wednesday, according to the report, includes "Speak," by Laurie Halse Anderson, "King and the Dragonflies," by Kacen Callender, and "The Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger.
The American Library Association reported some 729 challenges to school, library, and university material in 2021, the highest number since tracking began in 2000, NPR said.
Controversial 1619 Project creator and member of the Brooklyn Public Library board, Nikole Hannah-Jones, praised the measure in a post on Twitter.
"This is such a fantastic move and a template for how other institutions in states that AREN'T banning books can help those who live in states that are," her tweet said. "Healthy societies do not ban books."
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