Report: University of Maryland Researcher Writes a New Chapter For Prison Libraries

From the U. of Maryland:

Twice a year, staff members from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art visit the 190-person Franklin County Jail in rural western Massachusetts for an unusual literary project: They teach incarcerated residents a method of reading aloud that encourages kids to be active participants in story time. Then, the incarcerated parents who participate in the workshop choose a picture book and send home a video of themselves reading it to the camera.

“My two beautiful daughters loved it,” said one. “It made them super happy to actually see me reading a book to them rather than just hear my voice.”

Just five years ago, there was essentially zero library programming in the Franklin County Jail. In 2019, when Chelsea Jordan-Makely became head librarian of the local Griswold Memorial Library, she began working with the warden to bring books and services to the people in the jail. “There are all of these mandates that say we have a responsibility to provide library services for the incarcerated, but historically we’ve been falling very short,” she said.

That could soon change following the first update to nationwide guidelines on jail and prison libraries in 32 years, written in part by a University of Maryland researcher. Victoria Van Hyning, assistant professor of library innovation at the College of Information, was an editor and project manager on the American Library Association’s (ALA) “Standards for Library Services for the Incarcerated or Detained,” the document released last month that guides how carceral and detention libraries should function—the first update to the guidelines since 1992.

“We’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” said Van Hyning. “We’re hoping this really gives people an advocacy tool.”

Read the Complete Article (about 800 words)

See Also: ALA Issues First Revision to Standards for Incarcerated and Detained Individuals in 32 Years (via LJ; by Lisa Peet and Victoria Van Hyning)

See Also Standards for Library Services for the Incarcerated or Detained (via ALA)

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