The Glenside Library has been promoting books that Central Bucks residents are trying to ban

As news spread of the more than 60 book challenges in the Central Bucks School District, librarians at the Glenside Library were hearing from residents: Did they have the books some were seeking to ban?

Those asking the question wanted “to make sure we didn’t have any plans to remove these things from our shelves,” said Mary Kay Moran, director of the Cheltenham Township Library System.

The library decided to make the answer clear: putting up a display labeled “Books Challenged in Central Bucks School District,” featuring books available to be checked out and a list of the titles at risk of removal from the district.

The idea was “let’s just put together a display that shows the type of books being banned, and let everyone make a decision for themselves,” Moran said Tuesday.

The display, present for a couple months, was recently retired to make space for a new topic, Moran said, though it gained new attention Monday, as Central Bucks Engage, a Facebook page that monitors the Central Bucks school board and is backing this year’s Democratic candidates, shared a photo of it. The post garnered nearly 2,000 likes and more than 100 comments.

“All libraries should do this!” one person wrote of the Glenside display — one of numerous commenters to praise the library. Others said they were embarrassed for Central Bucks.

Since enacting a contentious library policy last year prohibiting “sexualized content,” Central Bucks has banned two books — Gender Queer and This Book Is Gay — out of five that committees have reviewed. Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh has said the district has a “duty to guard against the sexualization of children,” and recently linked the content of This Book Is Gay — a nonfiction book that aims to serve as a guide to LGBTQ relationships and includes discussion of sex apps — to a former teacher charged with sending messages of a sexual nature to a child.

“Given that the most recent occurrence of employee misconduct involved the use of one of these sex apps, I find it inconceivable anybody would support the existence of this content in our libraries,” Lucabaugh said last week.

The district didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday on the status of the 60 other books that have been challenged.

It also has not identified the people who filed the challenges, which object to not just sexual content, but also to discussion of racism, gender identity, and abortion.

At the Glenside Library, “we got nothing but support for our display,” Moran said. “People were really interested to see lots of LGBTQ resources” and books featuring characters of color.

The library serves a diverse community, Moran said, and “we want them to see themselves when they come into the library,” and to give others a window into the lives of people from different backgrounds.

Moran said that she was somewhat surprised by the attention the display has garnered, in part because the library didn’t have any reservations about creating it.

“It’s a core belief of librarianship to make sure you can get people the information they need,” Moran said. “We didn’t think anything of it when we did it. It’s natural. This is what we do.”