just want to put it out there that no I don't believe in exposing children to sexual content, my kids will be sheltered for as long as I can control it - however.....

At a primary school library there will be no books containing this sort of thing. At intermediate and high school, yes of course there will, and I have to repeat, if your kid is attending public intermediate or high school they are getting nothing new from those books. I agree 100% with what Aeh says about the info being academic.

As for the public library - if you have a child under 12, are you or a responsible adult not with them? Might just be me because my kids aren't at that age but I can't imagine my 11 year old making the trip to the library these days by herself. Of course we do not have reliable public transport. I do know that our library has a system where notes can be put on a library account - so if I want I can add one that says, please explain that there is adult content in a book before DD checks it out - or whatever.

I agree that as a parent you should monitor what your child is reading and provide thoughtful feedback/advice about the suitability of the book. I think we need to let our kids know that it's ok to start a book and not finish it, and questions they might like to ask before choosing a book.

I think it's helpful for a younger child choosing a book from the older section to say - I've chosen To Kill a Mockingbird. I can see it's about racial tension (or taxidermy), is there anything that you think might upset me in this book. Or in my case as an 8 year old reading The Amityville horror (never checking it out from the library because I KNEW it was not appropriate) - I would have benefited from someone saying, I know it says true story but it really is just a very scary story and it will give you nightmares and when you are 40 if you see red lights outside your window you'll have flashbacks. I stil would have read it, but maybe I wouldn't have been quite so terrified!

I think learning to self censor is such an important thing to do. Today's kids need this skill more than we ever did, to be able to turn on the internet, and not click on a link or search a particular term is something that they find hard to do and they are becoming traumatised through images they are definitely not ready (and I would argue never should be ready) to view.

By keeping them young and not letting them explore their limits of what they find suitable or not, too adult, too scary, upsetting, uncomfortable, sexual or confusing we are setting them up for a big fall. I want my kids to know before they see objectionable stuff if it is going to be upsetting for them and that comes from testing the waters a little. Not every kid is going to want to read age inappropriate material and that's great. But I think with a little guidance the child doesn't have to face being blindsided with traumatic material.

I don't know what today's equivalent is but where would some us be without Judy Blume? I remember reading Forever at 11 and I think it was pretty instrumental in helping me make good choices when it came to boys.

Anyway re the OP, your librarian needs to pull her head in.