A Lehighton Area School District board member called Monday night for a thorough audit of the books available in the district’s school libraries.

The move, director Sean Gleaves said, focuses mostly on content related to LGBTQ issues, critical race theory, and other topics he believes may be inappropriate for students without parental consent.

“This has been a project of mine that has been on hold for a few months now due to other priorities,” Gleaves said during the meeting. “But I would like to do a library audit, starting with the high school.”

Gleaves said he already compiled a list of 33 books that he found concerning, based on their content.

Among the titles Gleaves mentioned were books like “White Privilege, Human Trafficking, Black Lives Matter, and LGBTQ Families: The Ultimate Teen Guide, Transgender Rights and Issues, and Homosexuality.”

“These are titles of books that I wouldn’t want my kid to have access to without my consent, and I would like to think that other parents agree with that,” Gleaves said.

The national discourse surrounding the content of school libraries has intensified, with debates centering on the extent to which parents and communities should influence the availability of certain materials to students.

Advocates for increased parental oversight argue that some books contain inappropriate content, advocating for their removal to protect students’ well-being.

Conversely, opponents caution that such actions may lead to censorship and hinder educational growth.

The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom released new data documenting book challenges throughout the United States, finding that challenges of unique titles surged 65% in 2023 compared with 2022 numbers, reaching the highest level ever documented.

The OIF documented 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship, as well as 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials, and resources in 2023.

School board President Jeremy Glaush proposed that the review of these books should be a collaborative effort involving the school board, parents and the broader community.

“I think your idea is great to involve the community and have some parents check out these books so that they know that this isn’t just something that you pulled off a website,” Glaush said, indicating support for Gleaves’ proposal. “If any community member is interested in helping out … they can email Sean directly, or any of the board members, just put ‘library audit’ in the title.”

Lehighton officials indicated they would publish a list of the 33 books Gleaves spoke about.