[Bookstoprisoners] what books most popular in the jail?

Wed Feb 22 11:29:33 CST 2006

I was just at the jail Monday night and would add to these good lists,
1) biographies about people of color (men especially)
2) poetry of All kinds, including "how to write it."
3) Our self-help department could use more. As one guy said, "I don't
need to read about Anger; I want to know how to cope."
4) there is a small but steady demand for books in Spanish and our
supply is inadequate.
5) there is a need for more "easy reading" - even Hardy Boy mysteries
hop off the shelf.
Books with a lot of pictures or illustrations and somewhat larger print.
Barbara

On 2/22/06, Susan Porter Bruce <susanpbruce at yahoo.com> wrote:
> The only categories I would add to Suzanne's list: self-help/ psychology and
> religion are also popular. And graphic novels.
> Susan
>
>
> On Feb 22, 2006, at 10:28 AM, Suzanne Linder wrote:
> Holley--
>
> The Mystery/Thrillers are the most popular (Dean Koontz, Jame Patterson,
> Grisham...the usual suspects) but the most requested books (as in the ones
> we don't have nearly enough of) are books by Donald Goines, Iceberg Slim,
> popular press fiction by African-American authors and poetry by
> African-American poets.  Also very popular are the Chicken Soup for the Soul
> books and the Left Behind series.
>
> Thanks for filling those special requests!  It's great that you can send
> books directly to inmates now--Jay did a great job with the website :)
>
> Suzanne
>
> On 2/21/06, Holley K <hollymn1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Without anyone taking a lot of time tabulating book by book,  I am just
> curious as to the categories of books that were checked out most often.
> You're doing a great job there!
> >
> > bookstoprisoners-request at lists.chambana.net wrote:
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> > Today's Topics:
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> > 1. Jail "statistics" to date (Susan Porter Bruce)
> > 2. Books to Prisoners in Illinois (Sandra Ahten)
> >
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:34:07 -0600
> > From: Susan Porter Bruce
> > Subject: [Bookstoprisoners] Jail "statistics" to date
> > To: BTP Libraries , BTP
> >
> > Message-ID: <
> 0C1E6232-97A1-44C3-895D-B77624BDC808 at yahoo.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
> >
> > Jail Librarians and others interested in Books-to-Prisoners:
> >
> > As you may know, the jail check-out cards were sorted last week, with
> > the cards of those who have been released or sent to prison put in
> > the back of the box. (Librarians did this using a print-out that a
> > helpful guard brought in.)
> >
> > I decided to take these home Friday so I could count up whatever was
> > easily countable.
> >
> > I estimate we've been going to the jail for 20 weeks, and during that
> > time we created about 220-240 cards which are now retired. (I know
> > there were more than I have, because we had quite a few smaller cards
> > before we switched to the larger ones.) We probably have another 100
> > currently in the box, i.e. people still at the jail and using the
> > library.
> >
> > Of the 220 I have, 52 were women (23%.) That seems higher than I
> > might have thought, but there may be more turnover for women.
> >
> > Some cards show only 1-2 books checked out, some have as many as 40.
> > (We all know several who are on their second cards and who check out
> > 6 books each week.) Of course, it depends on the length of their
> > stay, and how often they choose to come to the library.
> >
> > I'll hang onto these, as we may want to sometime take the trouble to
> > list the books checked out. If anyone wants to see these or do
> > anything with them, let me know.
> >
> > In sum, we've served something like 350 or 400 people.
> >
> > Jay, perhaps we might share this with Nancy?
> >
> > Susan Bruce
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 21:45:30 +0000
> > From: "Sandra Ahten"
> > Subject: [Bookstoprisoners] Books to Prisoners in Illinois
> > To: jdicianni at ilsos.net
> > Message-ID:
> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
> >
> > To: Illinois Literacy Foundation
> > From: Sandra Ahten, Coordinator, UC-Books To Prisoners Program,
> > www.books2prisoners.org
> >
> > Hello, I am coordinating a Books To Prisoners Program for prisoners in
> > Illinois Prisons. We have been active for nearly two years and have put
> more
> > than 4000 books into the hands of inmates at no charge to them. We collect
> > books from the community; sort and store them; and then answer individual
> > inmates specific requests. We supplement our stock with dictionaries that
> we
> > purchase. More than 85% of our first time requests are for dictionaries.
> >
> > We have more than 20 volunteers participating each week.
> >
> > In addition we have piloted a program that stocks and staffs our county
> > jail.
> >
> > We have done our own funding through books sales (selling excess donated
> > books) and community solicitation /donations. We are supported in-kind
> > through our parent organization the UC-Independent Media Center.
> >
> > I am interested in meeting with you in person or by phone and discussing
> the
> > possibility of the Illinois Literacy Foundation funding a few specific
> > projects. Could you tell me how to reach you -- or what you believe our
> next
> > step should be?
> >
> > Sandra Ahten
> > 217-367-6345
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
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> > End of BooksToPrisoners Digest, Vol 9, Issue 14
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> Susan P. Bruce
>
> 1501 N Coler Avenue
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