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The Prison Library Primer
A Program for the Twenty-First Century
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SUBJECTS
Library & Information Science » Library Management
REVIEWS
"Brenda Vogel's The Prison Library Primer: A Program for the Twenty-First Century is a well-organized, thorough, and practical guide to administering libraries in correctional facilities. Vogel, a veteran librarian with more than twenty-five years of first-hand experience as the coordinator for the Maryland Correctional Education Libraries, has written extensively on the topic of prison libraries. While her knowledge and experience lend credence to The Prison Library Primer's content, Vogel's unwavering commitment to an often-overlooked community of library patrons makes the book truly inspiring....The Prison Library Primer covers a range of diverse topics relating to the delivery of basic library services in a penal institution, a range that runs from collection development to technology, contraband, and library facilities....All librarians with an interest in human rights will benefit from reading this text. The Prison Library Primeris recommended for those libraries maintaining either criminal justice or information science collections."
— Law Library Journal
DESCRIPTION
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 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).
