What is adult content?

Bookshare tags books that depict extreme violence or contain explicit sexual content as "adult content." These books are not available to readers under age 18, or to adult readers who "opt out" of seeing adult content in their searches.

Members under 18 who wish to download adult content can have a parent or guardian mail or fax a signed note to Bookshare, requesting that the minor's account be allowed access to books marked as containing adult content.

That said, Bookshare is a content-neutral collection and includes books from a variety of perspectives for a wide breadth of readers. It includes some books that are not tagged as having "adult content" but which some may find inappropriate for readers under a certain age. Similar to other public libraries, we do not make decisions about what content is most appropriate for our members.

We encourage families to talk together about what their children are reading. As a parents, you know your children better than we do, and you can help them find books that are a good fit as they grow and mature.