The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library joined hundreds of libraries across the country on Saturday for a “Freedom to Read Day of Action” in response to a surge in censorship across the country.

According to the American Library Association’s Unite Against Book Bans website, book bans reached an “all-time high” last year, “with a record 4,240 unique book titles targeted for removal, an increase of 65% from the 2,571 unique titles targeted in 2022 and a staggering 128% increase over 2021 numbers.” Preliminary ALA data indicates a slowdown between January 1 and August 31 of this year.

Fritzi Bodenheimer, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn Public Library, said the library participated in the action in part because many of the affected books were about LGBT+ characters or characters of color, “and this idea that you would essentially silencing or erasing these groups should be a concern for all of us.

“Our democracy was built on the idea that we can access information from all angles, and when we ban books, we are really going against this fundamental value,” he said. she added.

According to Bodenheimer, “we don’t know of many cases of book banning or censorship” in New York. However, 57 books have been challenged in New York state, according to a Times-Union article in May, and one school district received several bomb threats last year over “This Book is Gay.” by Juno Dawson.

In 2022, the Brooklyn Public Library launched a Books Unbanned program intended to help students across the country access books that may have been censored in their home state.

“No parental permission, no questions asked,” said Bodenheimer, who said more than 9,000 young people have signed up for the program, checking out 300,000 books in the process.

However, Books Unbanned also had serious consequences. In one particular case, an Oklahoma teacher who posted a QR code linking to the program later had her teaching license revoked. The teacher, Summer Boismier, asked an Oklahoma state judge this month to revoke the order, but has since moved to New York.

The Brooklyn Public Library marked Saturday with a performance by the Resistance Revival Chorus as well as remarks from Lee Rowland, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

The Queens Public Library held a “Day of Action for Banned Books” on the plaza of its Flushing branch. He also held a banned book competition and a banned book story time.