[Bookstoprisoners] Re: First day of library at the jail

[Frances Jacobson Harris]

A couple of thoughts below -
   Frances

On Sep 24, 2005, at 6:15 PM, Suzanne Linder wrote:
>  
> Hello Librarians!
>  
> I am happy to report that the first day of library at the Downtown 
> Jail was a tremendous success.  Ann Bishop, Jay, Sandra, and I were 
> there to check out books to any inmate at the jail who was 
> interested.  My favorite moment was when an inmate came into the room, 
> climbed up on a chair, and pulled a stack of books out from behind the 
> shelves--he had been in the library earlier in the week for a meeting 
> and was so excited about checking out books that he had hidden the 
> books he wanted to ensure that they would be there when he got his 
> turn at the library.  Multiple prisoners pointed out to us the raggedy 
> books that used to be in the library and happily compared them to the 
> new and diverse books that are in the library now. 
>  
> Check out procedures:
> We are using a fairly primitive system for checking out books--inmates 
> are allowed six books at a time and we have been recording the 
> inmate's name and number along with the titles they have checked out 
> in the two composition books that are in the room. When they return 
> any of the books, we will need to find their record in the composition 
> book and cross off the books they have returned, before we can check 
> out more books to them.

Instead of composition books, it might be worthwhile making these 
records on index cards (probably 4" by 6") - 1 inmate, 1 card. Then the 
cards can be filed alphabetically by name. When the inmate returns the 
books, the card is pulled and tossed (which also protects privacy). 
Still primitive, but efficient and does the job!

>  
> Scheduling and substitutes:
> I have attached the final draft of the staffing schedule to this 
> email.  Please make a note of when you are scheduled to work.  If your 
> schedule changes and you are no longer able to staff the library on 
> the day you are scheduled, you will be responsible for finding a 
> substitute.  I have attached an incomplete substitute list to this 
> email.  If you are willing to serve as a substitute, please send me 
> your phone number and I will add your name to the list and send out an 
> updated list in a week.  When you arrange a substitute, please send 
> Nancy Griffin an email at  NGriffin at co.champaign.il.us to let her know 
> of the change--this is very important as the jail needs to know who to 
> plan for.
>  
> Questions for discussion:
> We had several prisoners ask for specific books that we are able to 
> provide our collection at the IMC (books by Dan Brown, for instance).  
> We are able to bring in additional boxes of books--when we do bring in 
> books that fill a special request, should we tag them and save them 
> for the prisoner who asked for them?  How would we work a request 
> system across multiple librarians?

Again, index cards! In a box, filed this time by author. When a book 
comes in from the IMC, it should be tagged. The librarian looks in box, 
the inmate's name will be on the card. Same with books that are being 
returned by inmates. The request cards should be checked before books 
are shelved. Is there a way of notifying inmates when a request has 
arrived?

>  
> What do you all think about putting a sticker on the spine of books 
> that are by or about African-Americans?  Inmates averaged about 8 
> minutes in the library and if they were particularly interested in 
> books about African-Americans it was hard to find them in that amount 
> of time.  If we put stickers on the spine, they could stay in their 
> appropriate categorized but also be easily identified.

Sounds good to me.
>
>  Thanks!
>  Suzanne
>  
> When you do arrive at the jail, please arrive 10-15 minutes before 
> your shift as it takes some time to go through the check in process.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 4252 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/bookstoprisoners/attachments/20050925/27061556/attachment.bin