Borrowed and Returned is a new podcast series that examines what our reading public borrowed in the past, and what we’re all reading now. In conversations with library workers, authors and readers across the country, we’ll return to the books that changed us, and changed America, too. First episode drops July 8, with new episodes coming out weekly. Spend your summer re-reading with us!
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2:14
Tracing the Legacy of Slavery in Brooklyn
A new exhibit at BPL's Center for Brooklyn History explores the history and legacy of slavery here in Brooklyn. The team at CBH gathered documents and accounts from people who were touched by slavery in Brooklyn, and traced the descendants of both the enslaved and enslavers. "Trace/s" is up at the Center for Brooklyn History (128 Pierrepont Street) through August 30, 2025. This audio story is a companion to the exhibit, and it was produced by audio journalist and historian Ula Kulpa. Trace/s is supported as part of the Dutch Culture USA FUTURE 400 program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York, and by the Alvin and Fanny B. Thalheimer Foundation in memory of Bill Coleman. You can find more information about the exhibition, and listen to Part 2 of Finding Traces here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/exhibitions/traces
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14:37
A New Year’s Plunge (Rebroadcast)
As 2024 comes to a close, we wanted to share with you an episode that we produced all the way back in 2020. That year, we went to Coney Island to record the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, the group of swimmers that congregate on Coney Island every Sunday in winter to swim in the frigid ocean as a way to renew themselves. It’s a fun one, and we hope you enjoy!Further resources:Look at historic photos of the Polar Bear Club and Coney Island.Take the plunge with the Polar Bear Club this New Year's Day.Help us shape our next podcast series! Fill out this survey and let us know what books you think changed America. Check out the books we loved in 2024.
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11:25
Why We Still Read Together: The Joy of Book Clubs
Graphic novels, Haitian-American book bingo, and The Power Broker. These are just a few of the book clubs happening at Brooklyn Public Library! This episode, we take a tour around the borough to listen in on our patrons' reading habits and ask why we still read together.Read a transcript of this episode here.Further resources:Check out our book clubs happening across the borough!Want to read The Power Broker? You can join the club at Macon Library or follow along with the podcast 99% Invisible.Read books by Haitian authors for our Haitian Heritage Book Bingo, or comics in Chinese. Join a quiet reading party or an anime club for teens.Check out what our staff are reading in “The Cover Is Blue” book club.
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Book Sanctuaries, Buttons and Bouncy Houses
We're pulling out all the stops for the first annual Freedom to Read Day of Action on Saturday, October 19th! Hear from libraries in Los Angeles, San Diego, Hoboken, NJ and Austin, TX about what they're doing to promote the freedom to read. And, if you're in Brooklyn, meet us on the steps of Central Library this Saturday for a book rally!You can read the transcript here. Further resources:Join Brooklyn Public Library on October 19th for our Freedom to Read Day of Action! Or check out events across the country.Visit San Diego Public Library and LA County Library online to learn about their Freedom to Read Day of Action events. And you can brush up on the California Freedom to Read Act. You can read the New York Times story about SDPL’s LGBTQ+ book displaysLearn more about Hoboken Library and the book sanctuary movement. Austin Public Library has events planned for October 19th, and a new podcast called Save the Books!
Brooklyn Public Library is full of stories. Borrowed brings the best of them to you.Current podcast series:Launching July 8, 2025, Borrowed and Returned is a new podcast series that examines what our reading public borrowed in the past, and what we’re all reading now. In conversations with library workers, authors and readers across the country, we’ll return to the books that changed us, and changed America, too. Previous podcast series: Borrowed and Banned is our limited series about America's ideological war with its bookshelves. From September to December 2023, we released ten episodes featuring the stories of students on the frontlines, librarians and teachers whose livelihoods are endangered when they speak up, and writers whose books have become political battleground. Borrowed, BPL's flagship podcast, is a narrative series about superhero librarians, neighborhood stories and what it means to be a free, democratic place in today’s changing world. We tell stories about libraries during natural disasters, the challenges of homelessness, and NYC’s fraught relationship with trash.For transcripts, pictures, book lists, and resources, please visit our web page: bklynlib.org/podcasts
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