Prison Libraries.
A friend of mine who lives in the US used to be a teacher and is now working as a prison guard, I asked him about his opinions on Prison libraries yesterday, knowing I was going to write this entry today, and he said that it is nice mainly because it gives prisoners something to do with themselves, that a different dorm goes into the library every day and that the library they have isn't very complicated and is run by inmate librarians. Sadly I was on my phone when I got this message so I didn't have a chance to do any follow-up questions about libraries in prison but it was a good start for looking into these often forgotten about libraries.
ALIA, IFLA and ALA have built frameworks and guidelines for managing and running a library within a prison environment, but the question is, how are prisons doing at implementing the high minded standards and guidelines?
Libraries in prison TV shows rarely have decent organisational systems. I've looked and as far as I can tell they just threw the books together at random. Also seems like half the prisoners work in the library when they aren't working somewhere else vital to the plot. Source: Orange is the New Black.
Articles from the Australian Journal of Correctional Staff Development and the Telegraph(UK) paint a worrying picture of the availability of library resources to prisoners, with the NSW article pointing out that staff shortages(related to custodial staff or guards) can cause a library to be shut down for the day as the rules state a staff member must be present in the library of educational centre at all times when prisoners are present, the Telegraph article from the UK notes that prisons are legally obligated to provide at least half an hour a week worth of time to prisoners but often don't because of staff shortages and other problems. The Telegraph article also points out the destruction of library property is an ongoing issue with graffiti being spread throughout books as one group marks a book after reading it. This could likely work to limit the ability of a prison library to maintain stock levels even with the savings from using cheap(often free) prison labour.
Pool tables in a library? I have no idea how valid this might be I'm afraid to say. Source: Wentworth.
Working from the Australian Journal of Correctional Staff Development article it can be seen that currently only an estimated 5% of staff in prison libraries in New South Wales(I presume here that a similarly low number stands for the rest of Australia) are professional librarians with the rest of the staff(95%) being Inmate Library Clerks who often do the job for a short period of time, rarely receive much training and those that have training can often be moved with little or no notice which can create problems in terms of continuity of service. This system can also cause problems as several library clerks can sometimes create their own cataloguing/filing systems and routines which can lead to problems with newer staff trying to understand what they've inherited. Compounding on this is that the systems used(appendix 2) are not those people might be more familiar with outside of prison(Dewey or LOC) which can encourage further problems when untrained staff are put into library positions.
A further problem is that inmates are forbidden access to the internet which makes using online databases impossible and requires CDs/DVDs to be custom made for prisons by the Database owners(something which they appear mostly willing to do for a fee).
A prison library can help the education of a prisoner greatly, providing them with higher chances of employment after release than they had prior to arrest as it can improve basic literacy skills and knowledge to help qualify a person for work. I find it interesting that the ALIA guide for libraries recommends at minimum seven hours of library contact time per week compared to the thirty minutes legally required in the UK and the once a week system my friends prison uses in the US(prisoners from a different dorm visit the library per weekday, kind of like different classes in a school visit the library on different days of the week).
The library in the Shawshank Redemption was both a library and a metaphor for self improvement. Source: The Shawshank Redemption.
We often think of libraries as big grand places with lots of books and technology, in my travels I've found libraries with none of these, in the jungles of New Guinea I found a school library with only about five well worn books for the kids to read and re-read and in jails we often find libraries which are living off of the scraps other libraries have left behind. Yesterday I was talking about the people we leave behind and ignore as librarians, but I didn't think of the libraries we ignore.
Prison libraries are a valuable tool for people who need them more than almost any other group in our society.
My Day.
I have officially lost my voice now, which isn't good.
I went into the city this afternoon and could barely muster much above a whisper and then after I bought my comic books I went to Soccer training an hour later because I needed to sort out my convention tickets to go to DragonCon in Atlanta this year and the only person I know and trust with my money wasn't available at a time when I was free except for tonight. I ended up getting my pass to see the convention and finally actually looked at the guest list and it looks pretty damn cool. If nothing else I will have a chance to get Larry Niven to sign my very old copy of Ringworld or Worlds of Ptavs or The Mote in Gods Eye or any of the other dozen books of his I've obsessed over for the last decade or so. I may have to pick carefully.
After soccer training I came home and started writing about prison libraries but I kind of got distracted a few times by looking for screenshots and getting caught up in the episodes I was watching. Bit of a mistake there. I found the topic very interesting if nothing else, there are a few blogs of people who work as prison librarians I found interesting to read, So You Want To Be A Prison Librarian and Prison Librarian were particularly interesting to me. I wish I'd had more time to talk to my friend who is a prison guard, but different time zones kind of make it difficult at the best of times. Also the ALA standard on running a prison library cost $15.00 so I didn't really get a chance to read it. I read the ALIA guide and it was interesting, they recommended certain hours with inmate clerks doing double the workload of the professional librarians(mostly checking in and checking out books I'd assume with the librarians doing the cataloguing and other trickier work) as well as access to things like photocopiers and microfiche readers. They put a bit of effort into their recommendations I have to admit, I'd like to look more into this topic later but right now I'm too tired.
YouTube Clip of the day.
One of the most romantic things done in a TV show.
ALIA, IFLA and ALA have built frameworks and guidelines for managing and running a library within a prison environment, but the question is, how are prisons doing at implementing the high minded standards and guidelines?
Libraries in prison TV shows rarely have decent organisational systems. I've looked and as far as I can tell they just threw the books together at random. Also seems like half the prisoners work in the library when they aren't working somewhere else vital to the plot. Source: Orange is the New Black.
Articles from the Australian Journal of Correctional Staff Development and the Telegraph(UK) paint a worrying picture of the availability of library resources to prisoners, with the NSW article pointing out that staff shortages(related to custodial staff or guards) can cause a library to be shut down for the day as the rules state a staff member must be present in the library of educational centre at all times when prisoners are present, the Telegraph article from the UK notes that prisons are legally obligated to provide at least half an hour a week worth of time to prisoners but often don't because of staff shortages and other problems. The Telegraph article also points out the destruction of library property is an ongoing issue with graffiti being spread throughout books as one group marks a book after reading it. This could likely work to limit the ability of a prison library to maintain stock levels even with the savings from using cheap(often free) prison labour.
Pool tables in a library? I have no idea how valid this might be I'm afraid to say. Source: Wentworth.
Working from the Australian Journal of Correctional Staff Development article it can be seen that currently only an estimated 5% of staff in prison libraries in New South Wales(I presume here that a similarly low number stands for the rest of Australia) are professional librarians with the rest of the staff(95%) being Inmate Library Clerks who often do the job for a short period of time, rarely receive much training and those that have training can often be moved with little or no notice which can create problems in terms of continuity of service. This system can also cause problems as several library clerks can sometimes create their own cataloguing/filing systems and routines which can lead to problems with newer staff trying to understand what they've inherited. Compounding on this is that the systems used(appendix 2) are not those people might be more familiar with outside of prison(Dewey or LOC) which can encourage further problems when untrained staff are put into library positions.
A further problem is that inmates are forbidden access to the internet which makes using online databases impossible and requires CDs/DVDs to be custom made for prisons by the Database owners(something which they appear mostly willing to do for a fee).
A prison library can help the education of a prisoner greatly, providing them with higher chances of employment after release than they had prior to arrest as it can improve basic literacy skills and knowledge to help qualify a person for work. I find it interesting that the ALIA guide for libraries recommends at minimum seven hours of library contact time per week compared to the thirty minutes legally required in the UK and the once a week system my friends prison uses in the US(prisoners from a different dorm visit the library per weekday, kind of like different classes in a school visit the library on different days of the week).
The library in the Shawshank Redemption was both a library and a metaphor for self improvement. Source: The Shawshank Redemption.
We often think of libraries as big grand places with lots of books and technology, in my travels I've found libraries with none of these, in the jungles of New Guinea I found a school library with only about five well worn books for the kids to read and re-read and in jails we often find libraries which are living off of the scraps other libraries have left behind. Yesterday I was talking about the people we leave behind and ignore as librarians, but I didn't think of the libraries we ignore.
Prison libraries are a valuable tool for people who need them more than almost any other group in our society.
My Day.
I have officially lost my voice now, which isn't good.
I went into the city this afternoon and could barely muster much above a whisper and then after I bought my comic books I went to Soccer training an hour later because I needed to sort out my convention tickets to go to DragonCon in Atlanta this year and the only person I know and trust with my money wasn't available at a time when I was free except for tonight. I ended up getting my pass to see the convention and finally actually looked at the guest list and it looks pretty damn cool. If nothing else I will have a chance to get Larry Niven to sign my very old copy of Ringworld or Worlds of Ptavs or The Mote in Gods Eye or any of the other dozen books of his I've obsessed over for the last decade or so. I may have to pick carefully.
After soccer training I came home and started writing about prison libraries but I kind of got distracted a few times by looking for screenshots and getting caught up in the episodes I was watching. Bit of a mistake there. I found the topic very interesting if nothing else, there are a few blogs of people who work as prison librarians I found interesting to read, So You Want To Be A Prison Librarian and Prison Librarian were particularly interesting to me. I wish I'd had more time to talk to my friend who is a prison guard, but different time zones kind of make it difficult at the best of times. Also the ALA standard on running a prison library cost $15.00 so I didn't really get a chance to read it. I read the ALIA guide and it was interesting, they recommended certain hours with inmate clerks doing double the workload of the professional librarians(mostly checking in and checking out books I'd assume with the librarians doing the cataloguing and other trickier work) as well as access to things like photocopiers and microfiche readers. They put a bit of effort into their recommendations I have to admit, I'd like to look more into this topic later but right now I'm too tired.
YouTube Clip of the day.
One of the most romantic things done in a TV show.
Click to view