Banned Book Club

FCB Chicago

Brand: Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)

Year: 2024

America is facing a book banning crisis. Conservative politicians are silencing Black, Brown, and LGBTQIA+ voices by forcing librarians to take their books off the shelf. In 2023 alone, 3,059 books were banned — more than in any other year.

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) holds that our democracy relies on our freedom to read. And believes books should always be available to everyone, so we helped them create the most up-to-date database of all the books banned in America. Then, we geo-fenced the exact footprint of every library that banned the books — and made those books available for any person when they are within those very libraries. Sending a strong message to the book banners that every time they try to take a book off the shelf, the DPLA will put it right back, virtually.

The Banned Book Club was launched in partnership with President Barack Obama, the most notable defender of our freedom of speech. The work provided access to thousands of books across thousands of libraries and was downloaded by nearly 80K new users. But as importantly, it sent a strong message to book banners everywhere that if they attempt to ban a book, we will unban it in real time.