What is the 'Uncensored Library'? All You Need to Know About Minecraft's Secret Library

Minecraft is a video game where you explore and build in a world made of blocks. It's like a big adventure and creativity game all mixed together. But Minecraft has also become a place for people to access certain banned journals.

‘The Uncensored Library’, is a virtual library in the game, users can access the work of journalists who have been killed, jailed or exiled by governments. This library was created by a non profit organization called ‘Reporters Without Borders’ and the Minecraft design collective ‘Blockwork’, and gives access to articles banned in countries like Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

This library was first introduced in 2020 and provides a platform to all the authors who have been silenced. The library itself can be downloaded locally or accessed via a Minecraft server. It contains about 300 books spread across 12 wings, most of these wings representing a country where the information is limited. Visitors can browse the library and read prohibited articles in the form of Minecraft books from this location.

The nations in the library are chosen using the RSF's Press Freedom Index and Google Analytics, which looks at nations having an active Minecraft community. After the list is created, reporters from each of these nations donate their stories to the library so they could be turned into Minecraft books. The RSF constantly updates and curates the collection, which is always growing. Most recently, additional rooms were introduced with works from Iran, Brazil, Belarus, and Eritrea. 

The design of this library is based on the New York Public Library and it took 24 people from 16 countries and 12.5 million "digital Lego blocks" to create it. Users can read, collect, share and even their own books in the game, but they cannot change the content that is already written in the books on the server.

In times when, the government and the rich have a control over what we read and access, the Uncensored Library provides the public with sources to access information, without any censorships or ban, which is a great initiative for journalism.