A team of librarians received an award for their exceptional work that goes beyond the thousands of books on the shelves.  

Leigh Hurwitz, who works at the Brooklyn Public Library, is one of the five team members at that library who worked to create a platform for teens to access books that were banned in our country, forming Books Unbanned – an initiative to give students a digital library card to access books they can connect to. 

“When you have stories that are about you and your community being taken off the shelves… it’s sending a message that you’re not welcomed in the community,” said Hurwitz. “We wanted to do something that gave access to the teens in this country who were being most greatly affected.” 

Since the launch of Books Unbanned in April of 2022, around 6,000 teens across the country have requested digital library cards for those banned books. Thanks to this collaborative effort, these librarians were awarded for bringing new forms of literature to youth in their local community and across the United States.  

“All libraries should be doing this,” said young adult internship coordinator Jackson Gomes.