Just as there are different ways to interpret what a library is, there are different ways of providing information in a prison library.  Here in Washington State we provide library service using the public library model.  This means that we provide material to meet all the needs of our patrons, whether that be recreational, educational, or treament orientated.  All material provide to inmates can be beneficial and provide a lasting impression on them.  By providing them with the treatment needs, such as books on diseases or their medication or material to help them deal with their anger there is an obvious benefit.  Then educational needs are meet with basic math and English books, as well as vocational books for programs they can study in the prison and these books are clearly a good use of the library.  Then comes the entertainment or recreational needs of the patrons.  I firmly believe that any reading material is beneficial and we are happy to provide the newest bestseller, popular manga, and yes even those dreaded urban novels.  Reading is fundamental and a right for everyone.  What they choose to read is a personal choice so we try to provide every possible need and desire for our patrons.  We also provide ILL services to supplement our own material and this is very useful for all of those books that not everyone is all that interested it.  We are careful not to provide material that advocates hatred towards an individual or group of people, and you wont find a book on how to make a bomb, but the library is only as good as the material that is available and the use that it gets by the patrons.  So give the patrons what they want, bring on the urban books, romances, fantasy, languages, and the graphic novels.  Inmates are readers off all types of material, so a prison library must carry all types of material.  Public libraries offer a broad range of material to meet their patrons needs and the same is true of a prison library, a library with a diverse population of individuals.

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