Questions Welcome
Whenever I tell someone that I work in a prison I always get questions like, “Are you scared?” “What are the inmates like?” but no one really expects my answers. That yes sometimes and for the most part they are the guys you walk by on the street. There is no pat answer for anything, but I would like to answer some of your questions. So tell me what you want to know, what questions are burning in your mind when you think about prisons, prisons library and I will will do my best to answer them. Working in a prison library is an experience and I enjoy my job, so I want to share that with all of you out there, but I need to know what you want to know about my job.
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November 14th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Hi,
I am currently in my first year as an MLIS student. I am very interested in working in a prison library. I was wondering how you ended up in a prison library and if that was your goal all along? And do you have a Master’s degree?
Thanks
Catherine
November 14th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Hi,
Everyone is different, but for me, no I did not plan to work in a prison library. I kind of fell into it, but I have been enjoying it. I am currently working on my MLIS with San Jose. Some places want the MLIS, others do not, it all depends on the state and the institution.
November 14th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Wow, I can’t believe there’s only been one question so far. I have one, or perhaps a few.
Did you have to alter the way you interact with patrons when you started working in a prison library? If so, how?
In your next post you mention inmates getting “winked out” – what does that mean?
November 14th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Ok, “winked out” was a typo that my editor did not catch. Sorry about that. I have recently changed it. I meant that I was winked at by one of the inmates.
As for your other question, there was some alteration, but not much. I still treat them as patrons of the library, not “bad people”. However, I am more aware of my personal space then I was before. I take care when I am walking with the inmates or walking through them to get to shelf, touching even casually or accidently is very much taboo.
I will have to say the biggest challenge I had when I first started was clothing. But more on that later.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Hi Jill. Thanks again for this great blog 🙂
What is your book budget like? Do you get a budget for General Library materials as well as law library materials? (I imagine you must, as used books aren’t allowed.) In Oregon they have no General Library budget, which really hurts the libraries there. I hope you’re well-funded!
If there are prison librarians in other states reading this please let me know if you are w/o a General Library aquisitions budget…
New York state funds General Libraries in NYDOCS facilities, and requires their librarians to have MLSs.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Hello Jess,
Thank you for the support, it is great they we are getting so many readers, and I hope that we can continue to provide things for you all to read. In answer to your questions, we actually have a pretty good book budget here. I believe at this point we get $12 or $13 per inmate, and this is based on the number of inmates in the institution. This is for our whole collection, as we do not provide law library services in our library. The Law library is run by the DOC (were as we are part of the State Library) and I do not know how much money they get. Also we do accept donations (new or used) from outside sources, as well as from inmates and we place them in our collections if they are appropriate for our collections. We also have a seperate budget for newspapers and magazines. And just as an aside we do have one new library that is opening in the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center which will be a combination law library and general library and as of yet I do not know how the budget is working for them, but I can get back to you on that. At this point each library in our system has 1 full time Library Associate position which does not require an MLIS, however, we do have 3 Librarians that over see our work and provide support. This is slowly changing as we open new branches and provide more services, as there is 1 librarian at Coyote Ridge full time and we are making changes all the time as a need arises.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I’m so glad I found your blog. I have been thinking about whether I would enjoy working in a correctional facility. My questions have more to do with my own personal routine than the interaction with inmates (probably because I have already investigated that some.) Obviously, these all would vary from institution to institution but I am curious…
1. Does your library have windows?
2. In the same vein, could you- for example- take a break and go outside? Or is it too much of a task (I go crazy without an short afternoon walk.)
3. Can you bring a cell phone with you to the office?
4. Can you wear jewelry? like earrings or a wedding ring? (not sure if rules for visitors apply to staff as well?)
November 19th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Hello Jill. I am thinking of applying for a prison librarian job that has opened up in my state. Can you describe the biggest challenges of this position?
Thanks,
Jo
November 19th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Hello Molly,
I glad to hear that you are enjoying reading the blog, I am having fun writing it. As for you questions, yes I do have windows, there are quite a few and it does allow in a lot of light which is nice. However, some of the samller libraries do not or they have only windows up high where you really can’t see anything except for sky.
As for taking a break, yes I can take a break. I have a period of about 3 hours between open sessions, and part of that time is for my 1/2 lunch break. During that time I do have work that needs to be done, but yes I can get outside and take a short walk if I need to.
Absoultley no cell phone in the office. They are concidered a security risk.
Jewelry is OK. I wear earrings and rings, sometimes necklaces. I would probably not wear anything really expensive, but then I don’t really own anything expensive. However as for wedding rings, yes everyone who is married does wear their wedding rings.
November 19th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Hello Jo,
Let me think on your question some. However, I can tell you the challange is different for everyone and it has a lot to do with your personality as well as how comfortable you are with being an authority.
November 19th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Hello again Jo,
After thinking about your questions and talking to my supervisor I would have to say the biggest challenge is working with the offenders, the ones that we hire to work in the library with us. We have to hire, fire, train, and supervisor them as with ay other library employees, but there are some challenges with them. I will be posting a blog soon that will fully explain this.