Libraries are never so much fun as when the four legged patrons come to the library.  Not all prison libraries in Washington State have animals as part of their loyal patron base, but those that do find joy in getting a ‘pawshake’ and handing out a biscuit.  Airway Heights Corrections Library and Stafford Creek Corrections Library both share anecdotes of their “favorite” patrons.

George at AHCC Library

He is so cute. Shakes and gives High 5. He sits up tall and will stay up as long as he thinks he will get another treat. His trainer says he has stayed up over 2 minutes. -Joyce Hanna AHCC Library

It seems like there are more dogs with their toys than “boys” in the library right now.  Actually, probably not; but interesting…barking…playing…begging for their doggie treats.  “Winston”, a beautiful English setter, mostly white with brown spots here and there is lying at my feet I’m ignoring him, waiting forever for his treat.   – Jeannie Remillard SCCC Library

With the new arrival of dogs there is much excitement and fun in the air.  Tuesday the library was packed and we were very busy.  The dogs were visiting!!  Several of them were behind the counter with me getting their treats…. Tank – A big Black Lab weighing in at 87lbs was out in the reading room area, stretched out on the floor sleeping, all of a sudden I guess he realized that he wanted his puppy treat too.  He came bounding over the front counter and landed on the floor in front of my desk.  Everyone in the whole room was laughing. – Jeannie Remillard SCCC Library

Jeannie with puppy at SCCC Library

By the late 1990’s Western State Hospital began to admit a number of Russian patients with limited English language skills.  At the time the Library, a branch of the Washington State Library, had no Russian print material.  When discussing this problem with one of the recreation therapists, the 2 of us suddenly realized that the Internet was an entirely new universe for Russian web sites as well as for other countries and in many languages.

 One day, probably around 2000 or 2001, a Russian patient with some English language ability and I sat in front of one of our computers.  I asked her the name of her home town.  With that information I typed the name, and a number of web sites of her city came up.  The web sites contained both text, in Russian, and photos.  As I remember, the railroad station was prominently featured.  As she was viewing photos of familiar buildings and streets and reading the information, tears welled up.  I also found, with the patient’s assistance, the home town newspaper web site.  She returned to the Library for several weeks to view Russian web sites with staff asistance until she was discharged.  While she was still a patient, I attempted to print out a couple of the pages from her home town paper.  Unfortunately, it did not work out as well as I had hoped.  The quality of printing was rather poor.

 Although I don’t remember specific incidents, many times patients on the forensic wards expressed their appreciation that Kathleen, Sharon, and I once every 2 weeks brought up a variety of books, music tapes and CD’s, and later videos to the locked wards for checkout. It also provided patients to talk with people who are not ward staff.  I am sure that Nancy at Eastern Hospital experienced the same gratitude from patients.

 At one time during the 1990’s, a patient recognized my accent, and asked in Dutch for my name.  He also wanted to know whether I was born in the Netherlands and whether I spoke and understood Dutch.  This particular patient spoke excellent English, but he loved to converse in Dutch with me.  After he got to know me better, he loaned me a history book of his native province and town in the Dutch language.  He sometimes used the opportunity to gripe about the ward staff and ward conditions knowing, of course, that I was the only person able to understand him.  It was important for him that he could speak to me in confidentiality and had an outlet for his frustrations.  If there had been an indication that he was planning to endanger himself or others, I would have immediately brought it to the ward staff’s attention. 

These stories illustrate the fact that patients need and appreciate the personal attention that the library staff was able to provide. 

 Due to the state budget cuts in 2002, outreach programs to the wards were dropped.  Except for responding to specific requests from patients, this service never returned.

 Neal Van Der Voorn

Bird Watching Book

One favorite patron was a person you might describe as a “naive offender”. He was a regular library visitor, and he shared an interest in the natural world with us. He was illiterate, but he was frequently bringing to the library things he had found outside on his walks. Birds eggs that had fallen to the ground intact, even a nest that he had taken from a broken bird house. We always displayed his finds. During the last few years he was with us he participated in reporting bird sightings for the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. (We collected tally sheets from a few patients and staff who observed the birds around the hospital grounds, compiled them and reported the results online). He was always keen on seeing the map that showed all the places reporting, and that little red dot for Medical Lake that he contributed to. He frequently would come back from his walks, come into the library, and describe in detail a bird he had seen, and want to know what kind of bird it was. So we would go through the Audubon and Stokes field guides together to find his bird and we usually did. His descriptions were always impressive.

The following is a story told to me by a fellow prison librarian.  Since I liked it so much I decided to share it.

Two of the best library patrons I ever had were two older men I called the library angels. I can’t tell you they had always been angels. Obviously, they had both committed crimes that led to a prison sentence. But after many years of incarceration, they presented themselves as polite and respectful human beings.

One night these men started coming to the library every night, where they would sit quietly on the floor among the library shelves and put the books back in order. Obviously the inmate library clerks who were getting paid to work in the library were so grateful, and we all just started calling them the library angels, and the name stuck. At that time, the shelves were often in disarray because of shortened hours, the library being extremely busy, a computer crash that lasted for months (so we had to keep paper records of all circulation transactions), and other factors. I also think they enjoyed having a quiet activity to distract them from prison life.

Both these men were well-known and well-respected in the small community at that prison, but not because they were shot-callers or muscle-bound or selling contraband or anything like that. They were respected for their wisdom and their kindness. One was a Native American man who had a gentle demeanor and told some good stories. The one who was respected for his kindness was known throughout the community for capacity to give gifts and expect nothing in return. These two men were actually friends, which is pretty rare in prison. A lot of inmates have associates, but friendships are less common.

The kind man was also known for his walking. The yard at this prison had a 1/8 mile paved track, and this man would walk around the track in the mornings and the afternoons. He had a long beard and was tall and thin, so he was easily recognizable from any of the living units’ windows surrounding the track. Everybody knew who he was and called him by his first name or simply “the guy who walks.” In the summer, he got very tan! He also read books while he was walking, and I guess he must have read a lot of them over the years. One day he brought a map to the library and showed me where he had walked. He explained that he was recording all the miles he walked during his incarceration and was tracking his progress on a map of the U.S. that he had carried with him all this time. He told me he had taken a detour to visit his friend’s reservation.

These are just two of the very interesting characters I have encountered while working in a prison library.

Old time card catalog of the Baby Boomers

Unlike my cohorts in the prisons, the customers I serve in the large psychiatric hospital of Western State Hospital are not passionate bibliophiles. Mind you, they love movies, magazines and music. Those fly back and forth on the library shelves. But a book-lover? This, alas, is somewhat rare.

And so, when I am contacted by a true aficianado of the written word, they instantly become a beloved patron. I have two such patrons now. She is a fan of the memoir, he of the 1970s vintage novels. Never have I been so glad I’m a baby boomer. That was the era I got my first job in a library. My task was to shelve books all day. I came to recognize the popular ones very quickly–as they were the authors I shelved again and again.

And there’s another reason to celebrate my “boomeresque.” I have developed encyclopedic knowledge that comes only from years of practice in those library stacks. Ye olde card catalog is an imperfect creation. One must know the idiosyncracies of the dewey decimal system. Happy is he or she who enjoys several “a ha!” moments in the pursuit of read-alikes and genre classics.

Gosh, I sure hope my favorite patrons contact me today. Have I found some new reads for them!

Really, they are not all bad.  Yes they have done bad things and they have gotten caught. They are now incarcerated, but occassionaly one of them might surprise you.  Working in a prison library I see it all when it comes to patron types.  We all have them, the quiet one that comes in every week or couple of weeks.  Wouldn’t really notice him or her, except that they are just like clockwork.  Then there are those that when they walk in the door you cringe, you may even look for a place to hide, because you really just can’t deal with them today.  I have those too, but thankfully the good far outnumber the bad.  Patrons are the same in all libraries, I can honestly say that I don’t have any children, at least not any under 18.  I also don’t have any women in my prison, but the rest of the population are fair game when it comes to the population that visits my library. 

For some of the more interesting ones stay tuned…..