Library Resources for People Who Have Experienced Incarceration: Books from The New Mexico State Library's Collection

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

An exploratory research on collection development activities at Mzuzu Prison School Library in Malawi

Examines all aspects of establishing prison library service, describing process models and procedures that can result in overcoming negative sentiment. Includes examples of prison library regulation, state prison library standards, recommended readings, and a list of advocacy organizations. An outline of a clerical training program for inmate assistants and a user satisfaction survey are also included.

In the 20-year reboot of Neely and Abif's 1996 In Our Own Voices, fifteen of the original contributors revisit their stories alongside the fifteen new voices that have been added. This Collective represents a wide range of life and library experiences, gender fluidities, sexualities, races, and other visible, and invisible identities. In addition to reflections on lives and experiences since the 1996 volume, chapters cover the representation of librarians of color in the profession at large, and more specifically, those among them who are still the "only one"; the specter of "us serving them--still;" and migrations from libraries to other information providing professions. These authors reflect on their careers and lives in libraries and other school and workplace settings, as activists, administrators, archivists, library students and information professionals. They share stories of personal and professional abuse, attempts to find and secure gainful employment, navigating the profession, and how they overcame decades of normalized discrimination to complete their educational and career pursuits. They write about the need for support systems, work-life balance, self-care, communities of support, and the importance of mentoring and being mentored. And above all, they persist, and continue to disrupt systems. These essays are from contributors from a variety of libraries and library related environments, and provide answers to questions professionals new to LIS haven't even asked yet. The inclusion of a new group of librarian his-, her-, and their-stories provides a voice for those currently finding their way through this profession. These essays bring honesty, vulnerability, authenticity, and impactfulness to the "diversity" conversation in libraries and beyond. And more importantly, these voices, from a variety of races, ethnicities, genders and sexualities, matter.

Roman philosopher Cicero once remarked that "if you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." Today, libraries nationwide are beginning to incorporate gardens into their public services. Libraries in the southwestern US, for instance, are creating drought-tolerant gardens as neighborhood demonstration projects, while elsewhere gardens are being used to promote community engagement and even STEM learning. Citing examples of library gardens around the world that are thriving, this first-ever book on the subject not only demonstrates the many benefits of library gardens but also provides a complete overview of issues applicable to all library types and geographical environments. Featuring a full-color photo insert showcasing several beautiful library gardens, among the topics covered in the book are a brief history of libraries and gardens, with an overview of such "demonstration gardens" as medicinal and herbal gardens, native plant gardens, xeriscapes, and gardens as wildlife sanctuaries; the use of plants, such as living walls and rooftop gardens, to create ecologically healthy, sustainable environments; gardens as learning environments and spaces for storytimes and active play; food gardens, seed libraries, sensory gardens, outdoor reading areas, prison garden programs, and many other ways that libraries can engage communities; guidance on designing for inclusivity, planning, funding, staffing, recruiting volunteers, and planting and maintenance, complete with advice on determining the best plants to cultivate; and ideas on evaluating the effectiveness of library gardens and the program opportunities they offer. Readers will not only be inspired to create and nurture their own library gardens and programs, they will receive practical advice on how to proceed and sustain them.

This is the first book-length study of prison libraries to provide a comprehensive overview of their history and to analyze their development in terms of the goals of correctional agencies and the values and traditions of librarianship. The author's introduction points out that in recent years new considerations have made it more difficult to clearly determine the value and purpose of prison libraries with respect to both the inmates who use them and the institutions of which they are a part. A heightened sense of professional consciousness in the library profession, expanded awareness of the uses of libraries, and changes in the laws and politics of criminal justice have all contributed to new ways of thinking about prison libraries, and have made a seemingly once simple matter complex.

As part of our mission to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all library patrons, our profession needs to come to terms with the consequences of mass incarceration, which have saturated the everyday lives of people in the United States and heavily impacts Black, Indigenous, and people of color; LGBTQ people; and people who are in poverty. Jeanie Austin, a librarian with San Francisco Public Library's Jail and Reentry Services program, helms this important contribution to the discourse, providing tools applicable in a variety of settings. This text covers practical information about services in public and academic libraries, and libraries in juvenile detention centers, jails, and prisons, while contextualizing these services for LIS classrooms and interdisciplinary scholars. It powerfully advocates for rethinking the intersections between librarianship and carceral systems, pointing the way towards different possibilities. This clear-eyed text begins with an overview of the convergence of library and information science and carceral systems within the United States, summarizing histories of information access and control such as book banning, and the ongoing work of incarcerated people and community members to gain more access to materials; examines the range of carceral institutions and their forms, including juvenile detention, jails, immigration detention centers, adult prisons, and forms of electronic monitoring; draws from research into the information practices of incarcerated people as well as individual accounts to examine the importance of information access while incarcerated; shares valuable case studies of various library systems that are currently providing both direct and indirect services, including programming, book clubs, library spaces, roving book carts, and remote reference; provides guidance on collection development tools and processes; discusses methods for providing reentry support through library materials and programming, from customized signage and displays to raising public awareness of the realities of policing and incarceration; gives advice on supporting community groups and providing outreach to transitional housing; includes tips for building organizational support and getting started, with advice on approaching library management, creating procedures for challenges, ensuring patron privacy, and how to approach partners who are involved with overseeing the functioning of the carceral facility; and concludes with a set of next steps, recommended reading, and points of reflection.

Learn how to provide exemplary library service to individuals in prison or jail, by applying the public library model when working with inmate populations. These authors, a jail librarian and an outreach librarian, offer a wealth of insights and ideas, answering questions about facilities and equipment, collection development, services and programming; computers and the Internet; managing human resources, including volunteers and inmate workers; budgeting and funding; and advocacy within the facility and in the community. The approach is practical and down-to-earth, with numerous examples and anecdotes to illustrate concepts. More than 2 million adults are serving time in correctional facilities, and hundreds of thousands of youth are in juvenile detention centers. There are more than 1,300 prisons and jails in the United States, and about a third as many juvenile detention centers. Inmates, as much or more than the general population, need information and library services. They represent one of the most challenging and most grateful populations you, as a librarian, can work with. This book is intended to aid librarians whose responsibilities include serving the incarcerated, either as full-time jail or prison librarians, or as public librarians who provide outreach services to correctional facilities. It is also of interest to library school students considering careers in prison librarianship. The authors, a jail librarian and an outreach librarian, show how you can apply the public library model to inmate populations, and provide exemplary library service. They offer a wealth of ideas, answering questions about facilities and equipment, collection development, services and programming; computers and the Internet; managing human resources, including volunteers and inmate workers; budgeting and funding; and advocacy within the facility and in the community. The approach is practical and down-to-earth, with numerous examples and anecdotes to illustrate ideas.

For the most part, institutional librarians are isolated from the remainder of the profession and have little opportunity to discuss the unique demands they face with their colleagues. Ten current or former prison librarians cover all aspects of the prison library here: the prison community, the planning process, professional staff, inmate staff, collection development, services, programs, literacy, budgeting, facility and equipment, automation, and legal services. The contributors are Daniel Suvak, Rhea Joyce Rubin, Sandy Souza, Stephen M. Mallinger, Diana Reese, Nancy Pitts, Ann Piascik, Timothy Brown, Vibeke Lehmann, and Jay Ihrig.

The word "prison" immediately evokes stark images: forbidding walls spiked with watchtowers; inmates confined to cramped cells for hours on end; the suspicious eyes of armed guards. They seem to be the inevitable and permanent marks of confinement, as though prisons were a timeless institution stretching from medieval stone dungeons to the current era of steel boxes. But centuries of development and debate lie behind the prison as we now know it--a rich history that reveals how our ideas of crime and practices of punishment have changed over time. In The Oxford History of the Prison, a team of distinguished scholars offers a vivid account of the rise and development of this critical institution. Penalties other than incarceration were once much more common, from such bizarre death sentences as the Roman practice of drowning convicts in sacks filled with animals to a frequent reliance on the scaffold and on to forms of public shaming (such as the classic stocks of colonial America). The first decades of the nineteenth century saw the rise of the full-blown prison system--and along with it, the idea of prison reform. Alexis de Tocqueville originally came to America to write a report on its widely acclaimed prison system. The authors trace the persistent tension between the desire to punish and the hope for rehabilitation, recounting the institution's evolution from the rowdy and squalid English jails of the 1700s, in which prisoners and visitors ate and drank together; to the sober and stark nineteenth-century penitentiaries, whose inmates were forbidden to speak or even to see one another; and finally to the "big houses" of the current American prison system, in which prisoners are as overwhelmed by intense boredom as by the threat of violence. The text also provides a gripping and personal look at the social world of prisoners and their keepers over the centuries. In addition, thematic chapters explore in-depth a variety of special institutions and other important aspects of prison history, including the jail, the reform school, the women's prison, political imprisonment, and prison and literature. Fascinating, provocative, and authoritative, The Oxford History of the Prison offers a deep, informed perspective on the rise and development of one of the central features of modern society--capturing the debates that rage from generation to generation on the proper response to crime.

From one of America's most acclaimed poets comes a powerful memoir of childhood on the small farms of New Mexico, his adolescence spent in orphanages and detention centers, his years as a drug dealer, and his stunning personal redemption inside the walls of a maximum security prison.

Prisoners are in a grey area regarding library services. Prison libraries violate many tenets of librarianship, with the justification of maintaining order. The field is de-professionalized--many positions are filled by persons without degrees in library science, and corrections administrators often write policy for services. Critics cite the need to implement public library service models despite practical difficulties. This book investigates state, national and international policies on prison libraries, reviews literature on the topic and describes partnerships between prisons and public libraries. Results from a national survey and follow-up interviews are included, providing a full narrative of policy outcomes in U.S. prisons.

Reference work often receives short shrift in the contemporary discourse and practice of librarianship. Reference Librarianship & Justice: History, Practice & Praxis highlights the unique position of reference librarianship, a liminal and dialectical space, potentially distinct from the power dynamics of classroom instruction and singular in its mission and practice. At heart, reference is a conversation and partnership. The stakes are significant, not only because of the unique potential for social justice work but because of the risk that the profession is now overlooking reference's central importance. This book makes a passionate case for reference work in a manner that is historically, socially and politically compelling. The book's three sections explore the praxis, history and practice of reference librarianship in the context of social justice. Praxis grounds us theoretically while seeking to trouble and broaden traditional academic conventions, drawing on diverse epistemological frameworks and disciplines both inside and outside of LIS literatures. History grounds us in the past and makes the case that reference librarianship has a long tradition of social justice work, providing intellectual access, partnership and guidance from the Jim Crow South to the War on Poverty. Finally, Dispatches from the Field explores the contemporary practice of social-justice oriented reference librarianship, in prisons, in archives and beyond. We see how the rich genealogy of social justice in reference librarianship is at work today.

In a rapidly changing world with myriad conflicting voices, the library's role as a place of safety and inclusion and as a repository of knowledge cannot be overstated. Librarians must serve as community leaders with a mission to educate and inform, ready to model the principles they support. The question for many is: how? Experienced librarians offer ideas and guidance in seeking new creative paths, working to support change in library organizations and reexamining principles that may be taken for granted. Theoretical foundations are discussed, along with practical ideas such as the creation a book groups for the intellectually disabled and partnership with social workers or advocates for employees with disabilities.