Libraries and Incarceration: Resources for Librarians
Books on Prison Library Management
Library Services and Incarceration by ISBN: 9780838949450Publication Date: 2021-11-17This book provides librarians and those studying to enter the profession with tools to grapple with their own implication within systems of policing and incarceration, melding critical theory with real-world examples to demonstrate how to effectively serve people impacted by incarceration.
- National Institute of Corrections Library
Corrections-related resources including training plans, research reports, program evaluations and more. Not all items are online. Access to the full collection and onsite Information Experts, through online Information Help Desk. Catalog searchable and browsable.
Online Resources
- Prison Banned Books WeekPrison Banned Books Week is an awareness campaign organized by the Prison Book Program to direct attention to the issue of prison censorship, which targets more books than all state schools and libraries combined. The campaign's website features articles on prison censorship issues and resources to help get books to prisoners.
- Library Services and Incarceration Video SeriesThis series from the San Francisco Public Library features information from formerly incarcerated people alongside professionals providing library services for incarcerated people. It covers a range of topics relevant to the field.
- Map of AccessThe Expanding Information Access for Incarcerated People (EIAIP) Project offers an interactive map containing all the general data the team has collected on where library services for incarcerated people are located and where they are needed.
Library Literature on Adult and Youth Incarceration
Adult Incarceration
Cauley, K. (2020). Banned Books behind Bars: Prototyping a Data Repository to Combat Arbitrary Censorship Practices in U.S. Prisons. Humanities, 9(4), 131. https://doi.org/10.3390/h9040131
Austin, J. & Villa-Nicholas, M. (2019) Information Provision and the Carceral State: Race and Reference beyond the Idea of the “Underserved”, The Reference Librarian, 60:4, 233-261. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2019.1645077
Finlay, J., & Bates, J. (2018). What is the Role of the Prison Library? The Development of a Theoretical Foundation. Journal of Prison Education and Reentry, 5(2), 120-139. https://doi.org/10.25771/rkc8-8q64
Dunaway, S.E. (2017) ¿Dónde Está la Biblioteca? It's a Damn Shame: Outdated, Inadequate, and Nonexistent Law Libraries in Immigrant Detention Facilities, Legal Reference Services Quarterly, 36:1, 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/0270319X.2017.1312178
Wright, B.N. (2016), "The Prison Law Library: A Fourteenth Amendment Necessity", Perspectives on Libraries as Institutions of Human Rights and Social Justice (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 41), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 209-228. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020160000041008
Rabina, D., Drabinski, E. & Paradise, L. (2016). Information Needs in Prisons and Jails: A Discourse Analytic Approach . Libri, 66(4), 291-302. https://doi.org/10.1515/libri-2016-0098
Kimberli, K. (2016) Inmate Legal Information Requests Analysis: Empirical Data to Inform Library Purchases in Correctional Institutions, Legal Reference Services Quarterly, 35:2, 135-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/0270319X.2016.1177431
Youth Incarceration
Presa, L. R. (2023). A librarian’s dream helps turn a waiting area at Cook County Jail into an educational nook for children who visit the incarcerated. Chicago Tribune.
Austin, J. (2019). Literacy Practices of Youth Experiencing Incarceration: Reading and Writing as Points of Regulation and Escape . Libri, 69(1), 77-87. https://doi.org/10.1515/libri-2018-0108
Styslinger, M. E., Gavigan, K., Albright, K. (2017). Literacy Behind Bars: Successful Reading and Writing Strategies for Use with Incarcerated Youth and Adults. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Ownes, D., Tadgh, C. (2015). Tech Pilots in Juvenile Facilities Support Skills. Library Journal 140, no. 4: 25.
Directories of Prison Libraries
- Directory of State Prison LibrariesThis directory of prison libraries is maintained by the Washington State Library Institutional Library Staff
- Federal Bureau of PrisonsMaps and lists of the institutions, regional offices, a headquarters, staff training centers, and residential reentry management offices administered by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Bureau also administers contracts with private corporations to operate additional correctional institutions.
- List of Law Libraries Serving PrisonersLaw Libraries Serving Prisoners is an online version of the print "Directory: Law Libraries Offering Services to Prisoners." The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), Social Responsibilities Special Interest Section, Standing Committee on Law Library Services to Prisoners compiles the data.