Educational freedom should not be censored, and the Banned Book Club is doing everything in its power to bring back the banned books for free reading globally.
Educational freedom is facing turmoil in the United States. With new minds, new ideologies and experiences come to light, and books are the best way to read and analyze them. Censoring the stories and creative thoughts of writers has soared nationwide in the USA, with nearly double the number of bans in 2022. But this library, formed with the vision of empowering literary freedom, is bringing back all the banned books to an online repository that people worldwide can read for free.
The Banned Books Club is a free online library that focuses specifically on republishing banned books globally. Its motto says, “Every time a book is banned from a library, we're going to help put it right back." It is amongst the many communities fighting against the supposedly unethical and often illogical bans on various books, from those written for children to high-IQ adults.
The club commenced in July 2023 with the belief that readers should be able to access and read the books they want. The online book club is run by The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), which has already been fighting to revoke bans and restore public access to every piece of literature that ever came into question.
The Banned Books Club uses GPS-based geo targeting to track locations that ban certain literature and then publish them online to be accessed globally through their virtual library. These books are absolutely free, but the organization does ask for a voluntary donation to support the cause. You can either pay a one-time donation or opt for a monthly recurring donation to support the club.
People who want to do more on-ground work in revoking bans can find trusted resources available on the website for rallies, meet-ups and much more. The club’s listed books are largely sourced from the ban database on EveryLibrary, put together by Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson. Users can also report book bans to the organization, which it will take up for republishing online.
In honor of the National Banned Book Week in the US, which runs from October 1st to 7th, the club has made its presence known in the State of Texas as it is considered the Ban Capital of the country. Last year, the state restricted access or banned hundreds of books about gender, sexuality, and race. The club believes that the influence a book can cause should be limited to the user and not the book itself, as it is just a form of expression, and the US strongly supports freedom of speech in any form.
