Nashville Public Library Wants Students To Join Its 'I Read Banned Books' Campaign Amid Curriculum Removal
The Nashville Public Library is taking matters into its own hands after some area schools will soon be changing to curriculum that will completely ban some books.
NPL is encouraging students, or anyone effected to join its “I Read Banned Books” campaign, that will allow access to any of the books that will be no longer available inside of the schools participating in the removal.
"Make sure to go pick up your own special edition Banned Books library card at your favorite NPL branch!" NPL said in a tweet on Thursday.
Make sure to go pick up your own special edition Banned Books library card at your favorite NPL branch! __https://t.co/KMPBNLgLx6
— Nashville Public Library (@NowatNPL) May 5, 2022
People participating in the campaign will be given a special “Banned Books" library card. The cards will only be available til May 26, and NPL has a goal of distributing 5,000 of them.
The NPL Director Kent Oliver said in a statement released on April 28, “I want Nashvillians to know: Nashville Public Library will always respect your Freedom to Read — to independently determine what you read, and don’t read, and to exercise your role in determining what your children read."
“This campaign is our way of bringing our community together in our shared Freedom to Read, which is essential to sustaining our democracy,” Oliver added.
Two specific Tennessee schools were mentioned by NPL for their recent book banning decisions.
The schools include McMinn County Schools that removed Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel “Maus” from curriculum in January and Williamson County Schools that took away Sharon Creech’s “Walk Two Moons" in February.
"The reason why we specifically mentioned those (school districts) is because it's here, it's happening at home," NPL spokesman Ed Brown told NBC News on Thursday.
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