Some of the other teachers with high school libraries in their classrooms have discussed this in their blogs, but they weren't very helpful. As with everything else on this project, they were all across the board, and I'm not comfortable with any of their ending points. Some sent home letters to parents warning that the library contained books they might not approve of and asked for permission slips. Some didn't want to "ban" anything, so they put out whatever they thought the students would like to read. I'm not in favor of banning books, myself, but I don't want to anger parents or surprise students into reading something they're not comfortable with.
In some ways, this seems like it should be a non-issue at the high school level. By this point, students can check out any book they want at a library and can purchase books online without restriction. Plus, many high school English classes assign books like The Kite Runner or The Prince of Tides, which contain material I don't really want to read about. And, students are exposed to extremely graphic material in movies and online, often with parental approval. I can't think of any books I would include that would be worse than the stuff students have already been exposed to.
But, I don't want to give the "Mrs. Armijo Seal of Approval" to something that is upsetting to a student or parent. I could label the books, I suppose. However, I'm not sure how I would decide what to label them with. Plus, this might lead to students reading some of the books for all the wrong reasons ("Oooh, it's supposed to have an explicit part in here somewhere!")
So, I've decided to err on the side of caution, at least at the beginning. If there's something I'm not sure about I won't include it. This decision will also depend on the age of the students I'm teaching -- there's a wide gulf between Freshmen and Seniors. Of course, this cuts out many of the books that are common, fun books for adults; and I'm afraid there's going to be less variety to my shelves. So, I'll keep playing with these issues and make adjustments as I go!