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Borrowed & Returned — Arts
Borrowed & Returned

Brooklyn Public Library is full of stories. Borrowed brings the best of them to you.

Current podcast series:

Borrowed & 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 BPL’s Peabody-nominated series about America’s ideological war with its bookshelves. From September to December 2023, we released ten episodes featuring the stories from students, librarians, and teachers on the frontlines of intellectual freedom, and writers whose books have become political battleground. This series also won a Webby Award and was nominated for an Ambie Award.

BPL’s Anthem Award-winning podcast is a narrative show about superhero librarians, neighborhood stories, and what it means to be a free, democratic place in today’s changing world. We’ve told 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

The views, thoughts, and opinions of the guests do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of Brooklyn Public Library.

Copyright: © 2025 Borrowed & Returned

Latest Episodes:

Get Counted Apr 01, 2020

Show notes

The census doesn’t just distribute representatives in congress and billions of dollars in federal funds—it determines city bus routes, how many garbage cans are on your block, and whether a grocery store opens in your neighborhood. Filling out the census is one of the most powerful ways to use your voice.

Read the transcript here and our show notes here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/get-counted

Social Distancing? We're Here For You! Mar 17, 2020

Show notes

Working from home? Kids at home? The library is here for you! We’ve got virtual resources galore to help you keep a healthy social distance during the coronavirus outbreak.

Check out eBooks & Audiobooks: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/borrow/ebooks-audiobooks

Attend virtual story time every day at 11am and 2pm, join our virtual Dungeons & Dragons for teens, and so much more: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/event-series/virtual-programming

Read the latest newspapers and magazines online for free, and learn from home, whether you’re a kid or an adult! https://www.bklynlibrary.org/learning-resources

Three Brooklyn Stories Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

Listen to three Brooklynites talk about their personal connections to places across the borough. We’ll hear from a Walt Whitman scholar at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, an LGBTQ activist in Brighton Beach, and one of Biggie’s biggest fans on a block in Clinton Hill. Read our transcript here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/three-brooklyn-stories

Stroller Parking Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

If you’re a kid or if you take care of a kid, chances are you use the library a lot. Listen in on some creative ways that libraries are engaging with children and their caregivers, from writing workshops just for caregivers to classes that help patrons open daycare centers in their own homes.

Read the transcript and check out our book list here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/stroller-parking

Borrowed, Live! Feb 04, 2020

Show notes

For our first ever live show, we went back to the basics and talked about books! Listen to our librarians as they match audience members to books on the spot, reveal what, in fact, is the real number-one-checked-out-book in Brooklyn and recommend their favorite reads of 2019. This episode was recorded during the Brooklyn Podcast Festival at Union Hall on January 26.

Read the transcript and check out our book list here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/borrowed-live

Carnegie's Legacy Jan 23, 2020

Show notes

Andrew Carnegie has a classic rags-to-riches story: an immigrant turned steel magnate who financed the construction of over 2,500 public library buildings worldwide, including 21 in Brooklyn. But, his business and labor policies often hurt the very people his libraries served. As one Carnegie steel worker said in 1900: “After working 12 hours, how can a man go to a library?” We dig into Carnegie’s complicated legacy, with a special appearance from the Bowery Boys! Listen to their companion episode here: http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2020/01/andrew-carnegie-and-new-yorks-public-libraries-how-a-gilded-age-gift-transformed-america.html Read the transcript and check out our book list here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/carnegies-legacy

Librarians, Live! Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

We’re getting in your ears to tell you about our first ever live recording of Borrowed! It’s free, at 5pm on Sunday, January 26 at Union Hall, as a part of Brooklyn Podcast Festival (event details here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/borrowed-live-tickets-84560078471).

And, we’re collaborating with The Bowery Boys on an episode about Andrew Carnegie’s complicated legacy. That will come out this Friday, January 24 on our feed and theirs (http://www.boweryboyshistory.com/bowery-boys-first/bowery-boys-podcast).

Plunging into the New Year Jan 01, 2020

Show notes

To ring in the new year, take a dive into the stories of the Coney Island Polar Bear Club. We hear from voices from across New York City—a cop speaking openly about his wife's drug addiction, recent Russian immigrants looking for tradition, and a mother mourning her daughter's death—who all have their own reasons for jumping into the freezing ocean every Sunday. Read the transcript here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/plunging-new-year

Blocks and Brownstones Dec 24, 2019

Show notes

Perhaps Brooklyn’s most iconic neighborhood is Bedford-Stuyvesant. The tree-lined streets and grand brownstones have been here for over 150 years, while the Brooklynites who call those brownstones home are constantly changing. In this episode, we tell the story of this neighborhood through the lives of three women who set down roots there in different ways: activist Hattie Carthan, writer Paule Marshall, and novelist Naomi Jackson. Read the transcript and check out our book list here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/blocks-and-brownstones

Our Garbage, Ourselves Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

At the edge of Brooklyn, there’s a beach covered with glass bottles, nylon stockings, rusting kitchen appliances, and decaying batteries. The trash didn’t float here, though. It’s eroding from a poorly-covered landfill. We start this episode at Dead Horse Bay, where we ask what trash can tell us about structures of power, and end the episode in 1960s Bed-Stuy, where the local Civil Rights Movement took on a surprising enemy: garbage collection.

Read the transcript and check out our book list here: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/our-garbage-ourselves

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