Coloradans will soon be able to carry a library of banned books right in their pockets — free of charge.
Anythink Libraries, which serves residents in Adams County, is launching free access to roughly 300 banned and challenged titles and documents for anyone in the state. The release comes in time for national Banned Books Week, which runs Oct. 5 - 11.
“In 2023, there were 120 titles in Colorado that were challenged in public libraries. In 2024 there were 60,” said Anythink executive director Mark Fink. “To really preserve intellectual freedom and provide access to content and stories that resonate with a variety of audiences, we wanted to create a collection of titles that were more accessible to anybody that lives in the state.”
The new Freedom to Read Collection will be available for free to anyone over the age of 13 through the Palace Project app — no library card required.
“There are a lot of really powerful literary works that are part of our collection, like 1984, The Bluest Eye, Where the Crawdads Sing, To Kill a Mockingbird, Wicked,” Fink said. “But we also have nonfiction like Just Mercy, White Fragility, and Queer History of the United States. These are all titles that have been challenged either in Colorado or around the country.”
The app was developed in partnership with the Digital Library of America and operates similar collections in other states. Once you download it to your smartphone, you can select Anythink Libraries, browse the Freedom to Read Collection and take three steps to virtually borrow the material.
- Enter a name, valid email and create a password.
- Verify your email, which geolocates you in Colorado.
- And borrow the title.
“We are collecting a very minimal amount of information. Typically you need a library card to access virtual collections, which requires you to provide an address, a birthdate, an email address and a phone number, but we've tried to reduce those barriers by only asking people to provide a name and an email address,” Fink said.
The collection will also feature “foundational documents” like the Constitution, something Fink believes everyone should have access to. “We subscribed to the American Library Association’s freedom to read statement, which is based on people's First Amendment right to access material and free speech,” he said. “And that includes books that may have an unpopular point of view.”
The move follows the final implementation last month of a law passed in 2024 by Colorado lawmakers designed to regulate how school districts handle book challenges.
The arrival of the Freedom to Read Collection also comes as litigation over a book ban in Elizabeth, Colorado, continues.
“We recognize that there are some Colorado libraries where there are more challenges. For example, students that live in the Elizabeth School District might be able to find this Freedom to Read collection as one resource to borrow material that might be removed from their school libraries,” Fink said. “If a parent or a caregiver wants to have more oversight over what their kids are reading, then we completely support their rights to do that, but the library isn't the place to decide what people should be reading or not reading.”
The banned books in Elizabeth have been reshelved per court order, but the case could still go to trial.
