Prison Librarianship and LIS Schools: Is there a career-path?

Library Information Science research has inquired and advocated for prison librarianship since as far back as the 1930s. While most of the articles published focus on the problems facing these institutional libraries, (budgets, censorship, best practices, and standards), very few focus on the preparations LIS schools take to prepare and promote prison librarianship. For many years’ civilians, not professional librarians, operated prison libraries. Although the rise in professional librarians in prison libraries has grown, has the preparation and quality of professionally trained institutional/prison librarians changed? Previous research states LIS schools often overlook or ignore institutional/prison librarianship. This article explores past recommendations and current ALA accredited LIS School’s curriculum to find out if LIS schools are preparing and promoting the necessity and career of prison librarianship. Sixty ALA accredited LIS schools were contacted and asked to supply course descriptions related to institutional/prison libraries. Additionally, they were asked if they promote the career path of institutional/prison librarianship. An inquiry about LIS student’s capstone and thesis projects on the topic of institutional/prison librarianship was included

The Reality of Prison Libraries in the Hashmiat Kingdom of Jordan from the Point of View of their Employees

This study aims to identify the reality of prisons libraries in the Hashmiat Kingdom of Jordan, identify the different aspects of this reality, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their resources, systems and services in order to present a proposal for improvement and development of them. The study aims to know the views of prisoners in prison libraries In terms of their reality, practice and contents.The study has used questionnaire and interview tools to answer the study questions and test its hypotheses. The questionnaire was distributed to a sample of (52) prisoner representing (88%) of the study target society , which includes workers and working inmates in prison libraries in Jordan.The results of the study show that all prison inmates need different libraries to get information and improve their knowledge. The result also show that there is no relation between the existence of a prison library and the education and cultural background of the prisoners ,the lack of flexibility in the future for expansion of the library. The results also show a shortage in the financial support to fund the prison libraries in general, as well as the lack of qualified and trained clerks.According to the results, the study introduces many recommendations hoping they will be considered by the managers and decision makers. The most important of these recommendations is the need to establish cooperative relationships between prison libraries and other public and privet libraries in the community, which may help to provide more and modern services. Also, the study recommends to courage having administrative decision to establish independent library building in each prison in Jordan. Due to there is a relationship between the existence of a library in the scientific sense inside the prison and the conviction of those responsible for the importance of its role in the reforming and rehabilitation of inmates, the study recommends to pay more attention to the importance of prison libraries

ROLES OF LIBRARY SERVICES TO PRISON INMATES’ REHABILITATION IN SOME SELECTED PRISONS OF SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA.

This paper is titled roles of library services to prison inmates’ rehabilitation in selected prisons of south western Nigeria. This study sought to examine the roles of public libraries in rehabilitation of prison inmates’ in Ekiti and Osun State Prison facilities through the provision of valuable information. the paper exposes Services rendered by Prison Libraries in Osun and Ekiti States, Nigeria, it examined the information needs of the prisoners in Osun and Ekiti States, Nigeria, extent to which the prison libraries are meeting the information needs of the prisoners in Osun and Ekiti States, Nigeria and commonly observed obstacles inmates face daily in sourcing for and utilising of information resources in Nigerian prisons, prison library infrastructure, and services are outdated, not human-friendly and inadequate. It was recommended in the paper that for lasting reformation and rehabilitation to take place, unequivocal access to relevant library information resources through reading is undisputable in their struggle for survival, reconstruction, corrections and final reintegration into Nigerian society

Book Review: The Prison Library Primer: A Program for the Twenty-First Century

Book review of THE PRISON LIBRARY PRIMER: A PROGRAM FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY, by Brenda Vogel (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009). This work is a well-organized, thorough, and practical guide to administering libraries in correctional facilities. Vogel, a veteran librarian with more than twenty-five years of first-hand experience as the coordinator for the Maryland Correctional Education Libraries, has written extensively on the topic of prison libraries. While her knowledge and experience lend credence to The Prison Library Primer’s content, Vogel’s unwavering commitment to an often-overlooked community of library patrons makes the book truly inspiring

Prison libraries, intellectual freedom and social justice in Nigeria

This paper deployed a systematic review to examine prison libraries and intellectual freedom towards attaining social justice in Nigeria. Information resources used cover the periods of 2010 and 2020 to articulate the necessary development in prison libraries, intellectual freedom and social justice in Nigeria. Search engines such as Google scholar, Semantic Scholar, and RefSeek were used to retrieve information and through different queries yielded several results but very few of them were selected to fit in the study due to limited studies directed to address the focus of this study particularly in the Nigeria scenario. Information obtained were subjected to content analysis following relevant themes of the research questions and relevant information obtained were subjected to analysis using a systematic review approach of relevant articles and information to achieve the major objectives of the study. Results were presented with respect to the research question of the study. The findings revealed that prison inmates in Nigeria have several information needs which include current affairs, legal information, religious information, health information, psychological information, recreational information, vocational information, educational information. recreational information and also financial needs. Despite the huge needs of these inmates, prison libraries provide very few, restricting access to majority to inmates. This could pose significant effect on inmates in the long run particularly in the prison and after serving their prison punishment hence, affecting the attainment of social justice society in Nigeria and also the attainment of SDG. To this end, the study recommends that various information needs are to be considered and met by prison libraries towards ensuring intellectual freedom and ensuring a social justice community and prison libraries should be provided with several needed facilities and funds that could make it possible to meet the intellectual freedom of inmates towards ensuring a social justice society

KEBIJAKAN PENGEMBANGAN KOLEKSI PRISON LIBRARIES

Abstrak:Perpustakaan saat ini menjadi fokus utama dalam hal sarana ataupun sebagai tempat yang mampu menyediakan informasi bagi para pengguna dalam memenuhi segala macam kebutuhan informasi yang dibutuhkan, untuk itu perlu adanya kebijakan tentang pengembangan perpustakaan.PRISON LIBRARIES, merupakan perpustakaan penjara yang berada di seluruh wilayah negara bagian Amerika Serikat (USA), yang dihadirkan sebagai bentuk dukungan pemerintah agar narapidana menjadi pribadi yang lebih baik.. Artikel kali ini akan dipaparkan dengan menggunakan metode jenis/pendekatan penelitian yang berupa Studi Kepustakaan (Library Research). PRISON LIBRARIES mengikuti pedoman ALA (American Libraries Association) dalam memberikan layanan perpustakaan umum yang setara kepada para pengunjung di Lapas. Adapun aspek pengembangan koleksi meliputi Analisis Masyarakat, Kebijakan Pengembangan Koleksi, Alat Bantu Seleksi, Pengadaan Bahan Pustaka, Evaluasi Koleksi, Stock Opname, Pelestarian Bahan Pustaka, Penyiangan/wedding.Kata kunci:  Pengembangan Koleksi, ALA, Aturan. Abstract:Libraries are currently the main focus in terms of facilities or as a place that is able to provide information for users in meeting all kinds of information needs needed, for that there needs to be a policy on library development. PRISON LIBRARIES, is a prison library located throughout the state. United States of America (USA), which is presented as a form of government support so that prisoners become better individuals. This article will be presented using a research type/approach method in the form of Library Research. PRISON LIBRARIES follows ALA guidelines in providing equal public library services to visitors to prisons. The aspects of collection development include Community Analysis, Collection Development Policy, Selection Aids, Procurement of Library Materials, Collection Evaluation, Stock Taking, Library Material Preservation, weddingKeywords: Collection Development, ALA, Policies

Making Available Library Information Resources for Utilisation and Reformation of Prison Inmates

Nigerian prisons harbour offenders who have committed offences. These are mainly youths of great strength and high intelligence within the age bracket of 18-45 years. A study on availability and utilization of library information resources and psychological well-being was carried out among prison inmates with functional libraries in Ikoyi prison, Lagos and Ijebu-ode prison, Ijebu, Nigeria. The population of convicted prison inmates in the two prisons was 744 (513 prisoners from Ikoyi prison and 231from Ijebu prison). 305 inmates were sampled from Ikoyi prison and 138 from Ijebu-ode prison, totalling 443 (60%) of the study population. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents in the two prisons, and the 443 sample responded correctly to the questionnaire making it a 100% response rate. The study revealed that there is a poor rendition of library services in the prison library from the items tested, the mean scores obtained were weighted at 1.31 ≤ 2.00. The study also revealed unavailability of library information resources while the few available ones are under-utilized. Out of the 11 items tested, 9 items portrayed very poor utilisation rate, while the remaining two items; internet and video for personal development training and cassettes were not utilized at all. The paper, therefore, recommends that prison library should be equipped with relevant and updated information materials and library services be fully rendered in order to facilitate their rehabilitation and improve inmates reformation. Keywords: Reformation, Information Resources, Availability, Utilization, Prison libraries, Inmates, Nigeri

Beyond Exploitation: Metadata Justice and Prison Labor

Large-scale digitization projects require enormous amounts of resources and labor, both of which are frequently in short supply in libraries and archives. How, then, has Oklahoma’s Yearbook Project been able to scan and process high school yearbooks at no cost for schools, libraries, museums, and historical societies? As a service of Oklahoma Correctional Industries, a state-level prison industry program, the Yearbook Project relied on the penal labor exemption of the Thirteenth Amendment which allows for involuntary servitude to occur behind prison bars. Although the Yearbook Project is currently on hiatus due to an ongoing investigation, metadata specialists, cataloguers, and the wider memory work community must still grapple with the legacy of this and other exploitative and unethical programs that have contributed to the resources and services we offer patrons. This presentation sheds light on the issue of exploitative prison labor on behalf of libraries and archives, and offers a solution grounded in metadata justice: labeling items, collections, and databases that benefit from exploitative labo

Fra boktralle til veiledning : bibliotektjenester til studenter i norske fengsler

Temaet for oppgaven er hvordan norsk bibliotekvesen (folkebibliotek og fag- og forskningsbibliotek) kan gi studenter i fengsel et bedre tjenestetilbud enn de får i dag. Det teoretiske grunnlaget er hentet fra sentrale teoretikere på bibliotekarens rolle overfor studenter, på læringsteorier og på marginaliserte grupper i samfunnet. Empirien er basert på intervjuer med til sammen 21 respondenter fra fengselsbibliotek, universitets- og høgskolebibliotek, skoleavdelingen i fengselet og Kriminalomsorgen. Undersøkelsene viser stort forbedringspotensial i bibliotektilbudene, blant annet på aktørenes tverrfaglige samarbeid. Studenter i fengsel har et utilfredsstillende læringsmiljø og begrenset tilgang til bibliotekressurser.The subject of the thesis is how the Norwegian library system (public libraries and academic and research libraries) can give students in prison better services than today. The theoretical approach is drawn from key theorists in the librarians role towards students, on learning theories, and on marginalized groups in society. The empirical study is based on interviews with a total of 21 informants from prison libraries, university and college libraries, school departments in prisons and The Norwegian Correctional Services. The studies reveal a big potential for improvement in the library services and inter-disciplinary collaboration. Students in prison have an unsatisfactory learning environment and limited access to library resources.Master i bibliotek- og informasjonsvitenska