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

Vogel, Brenda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810854031 ISBN 13: 9780810854031

Publisher: Scarecrow Press, 2009

Synopsis

In this century the central and quintessential correctional facility program ought to be the library. While the U.S. prison industry has embraced a massive reentry movement emphasizing literacy and job readiness for former felons, prison libraries have been ignored as potential sources for reintegration. In The Prison Library Primer: A Program for the Twenty-First Century, Brenda Vogel addresses the unique challenges facing the prison librarian.

This practical guide to operating and promoting a correctional library focuses on the basic priorities: collection development; location, space planning, and furnishing suggestions; information on court decisions and legislation affecting prisoners' rights. This volume also includes an information-skills training curriculum, sample administration policies, essential digital and print sources, and community support resources.

Equipped with practical library science tools and creative solutions, The Prison Library Primer is an invaluable resource that will help the librarian and library advocate develop, grow, and maintain an effective, user-centered library program.

About this title

About the Author

Brenda Vogel spent 26 years as the Coordinator of Maryland Correctional Education Libraries. An outspoken advocate for prison library services, Vogel was named Library Journal's Librarian of the Year in 1989. She is the author of Down for the Count: A Prison Library Handbook (Scarecrow, 1995).

Reviews

This work is a combination of the real and ideal in library service to the incarcerated in the U.S. The author was coordinator of Maryland Correctional Education Libraries for 26 years and wrote Down for the Count: A Prison Library Handbook (1995). The new work is a substantive, thoroughly developed guidebook for effective service despite the current punitive approach in corrections work and legal decisions. The author provides the historical and contemporary framework, drawing from a wide variety of sources and expertise (inside and outside), and includes 2008 and 2009 information. The work concludes with recommended reading and information resources, various helpful appendixes, and an accurate index. Highly recommended for libraries that serve or would like to serve prisons, state and county system libraries, and academic and library school libraries. --Arthur Meyers

Edition details

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0810854031
• ISBN 13: 9780810854031
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296