Global Reach: These Are the Books You’re Looking For

Chile

Librarians at the National Library of Chile in Santiago discovered a cache of hidden texts from the government of 1970–1973 President Salvador Allende, the Latin American Post reported. After the September 11, 1973, military coup, dictator Augusto Pinochet sought to destroy “dangerous” texts, including leftist books, Allende-era speeches and pamphlets, and books published by Quimantú, a state publishing house founded in 1971 that produced inexpensive paperbacks and made literature more accessible to the public. Some librarians hid books in attics or storerooms or removed cards from catalogs to conceal them from military raids.

South Africa

Johannesburg City Library reopened after five years on August 9. The library closed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and partially reopened in March 2025. City officials claimed the building’s continued closure was due to urgent repairs, although the Christian Science Monitor spoke to activists pushing for the reopening who blamed government instability in a city where the mayor has changed eight times since 2021.

Poland

Warsaw opened Metroteka, an “express” library in a transit station, to encourage commuters to pocket their smartphones and pick up a book, the Guardian reported. The library, which debuted in September, includes 16,000 books that can be returned on-site or at a locker available at street level. Metroteka also offers reading areas for adults and children, a space for public readings and events, and a hydroponic garden wall. The library lent more than 400 books on its first day.

Afghanistan

In late August, the Taliban ordered the removal of nearly 700 books and 18 academic subjects from university curricula in Afghanistan, University World News reported. The Taliban’s decree claimed that “religious scholars and experts” evaluated the subjects and determined they were contrary to Sharia. Banned topics include human rights, democracy, and women’s studies. Many of the removed books were by Iranian authors or from Iranian publishers, and 140 of the books were written by women.

Singapore

In honor of its 30th anniversary, Singapore’s National Library Board (NLB) opened a pop-up Star Wars library at the country’s Changi Airport on August 6. The facility includes more than 2,000 circulating Star Wars–related books selected by NLB librarians, an automated book retrieval system that delivers materials to patrons, and interactive attractions like a trivia wall and a Jedi personality quiz. The library is open until January 24, 2026.