About
What this is
A parent has almost no straightforward way to find out what’s actually in their child’s school library. The titles people raise concerns about are scattered and hard to pin down, with no neutral, factual place to check any of it. The Library Census fixes that — it documents what school and public libraries actually hold, sourced to each library’s own catalog and quoted to the page.
This isn’t about banning books. We don’t rate, rank, or decide what’s good or bad. Families deserve to see what’s on the shelf and decide for themselves what belongs at what age. We show you exactly what’s inside; you draw the conclusion.
Founded and run by Jesse LeVasseur. Read my story →
We track the books parents and communities are challenging — old and new — watching challenge lists, district acquisition lists, and new releases. Fully funded, the Census catches new additions to school libraries across the country as they land.
We check what each district holds through the library’s own public catalog — and, where a catalog isn’t public, through formal open-records requests to the district. Where it matters, we capture the proof straight from the district’s own catalog.
To document what’s really inside, we buy the book and read it. Every review starts with an owned copy — $20 covers the book and the work of documenting it.
Each review documents the book against 13 content topics — Sexual Content, Sexual Assault, Child Sexual Abuse, Explicit Sexual Content, Profanity, Strong Profanity, Graphic Violence, Abuse, Self-Harm & Suicide, Drugs & Alcohol, LGBTQ, Race & Identity, Anti-Christian — with page-anchored quotes, grade and interest level, subject tags, and the source. We don’t rate or rank; we quote and cite, and you decide.
Nothing is presented as our verdict. Volunteer reviewers vote on each finding — a claim earns its verified checkmark only when three independent reviewers confirm it, and anything short of that is shown plainly as still under review. It’s the reviewers’ call, not ours.
We share what we find on social media, so parents learn about an issue in their own schools that most never knew they had.
When parents and community leaders raise concerns about a title, we give them the platform to organize — a campaign names a book at a location, gathers support, and always cites the record.
In Texas, we track how school-board trustees vote on these books — so parents can see who decided what, and hold them to it.
We’re live — and the next 90 days, through year-end, are the proof: of concept, of funding, and of demand.
The build is done and paid for. But it’s a living record — kept current, and backed by a real person who stands behind every public claim: naming a specific book, a specific district, how a trustee voted. That accountability is a full-time job, and it’s what keeping this running costs. The simplest way to help is to cover your own community’s coverage — a gift that keeps your county’s record live through the year.
Gifts cover operations first — the real person, the live system, the responsibility of standing behind every claim. Every dollar beyond that documents another book.
Or fund one book review — $20: buys the book and the work of documenting it.
Thank you — your gift is in. It goes straight into the record.
Thanks — you’re on the list.
Want to talk it through first? Call or text (817) 518-5834, or email jesse@librarycensus.org.
Donations are not tax-deductible at this time.