Another record year for book challenges Preliminary data from the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) through August 31 showed a 20% increase in reported book challenges for 2023—surpassing the record set in 2022. The data also showed an increase in challenges that targeted multiple titles, with libraries in 11 states receiving challenges that included 100 or … Continue reading 2023 Year in Review
First, poets and prison reform activists Reginald Dwayne Betts and Randall Horton talked with former ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall back in an interview conducted last July. Betts and Horton, who were formerly incarcerated, now spearhead respective literary program: Betts founded Freedom Reads, which installs 500-book Freedom Libraries in prisons and juvenile detention centers, … Continue reading Call Number Podcast: Services for the Incarcerated
Betts founded Freedom Reads, an organization that installs 500-book Freedom Libraries in prisons and juvenile detention centers. Horton cofounded Radical Reversal, a program that creates performance and recording spaces in detention centers and correctional facilities, and conducts workshops that provide creative outlets for incarcerated people. American Library Association (ALA) Executive Director Tracie D. Hall interviewed … Continue reading Lighting the Way
In addition to having the option to take one college course per semester, incarcerated students can come to a computer lab once a week at their correctional facility. That’s where a student success specialist, a writing tutor, and I provide them with research assistance. My job is to answer questions and help students brainstorm search … Continue reading Closing Access Gaps
“I stood up and said, ‘I’m going to become a librarian,’” James remembered. “The laughter was quite intense.” Despite being told it was “unrealistic,” James went on to receive his master’s degree in information science from University of Texas at Austin in 2007. Since then, he’s worked with several American Library Association (ALA) groups advocating … Continue reading Setting the Standards
At “Nurturing Writers Workshops in Prison,” a June 25 session at the American Library Association’s 2023 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago, Fleenor shared the impact his writers’ workshop has had on his life as well as what his facility has gained from it: “An enduring writing community.” He was joined by moderator Moira Marquis, … Continue reading Fostering Self-Determination
“The Association’s membership is called on at this moment to interrupt the systemic information poverty that is going on in American’s detention facilities,” she said. As ALA prepares to revise its Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions for the first time since 1992, Hall was joined in conversation by a panel of advocates who are fighting for … Continue reading ‘Our Access Point to the Humanity We Cannot Touch’
John Mack Freeman, manager of Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Library’s Suwanee branch, opened with a clip that appeared to show former US President Barack Obama voicing support for Black Panther movie villain Erik Killmonger. (The clip was actually a BuzzFeed-produced PSA from director Jordan Peele, who imitated Obama’s speech patterns with cleverly synched video.) It … Continue reading Libraries and Invasive Technology
The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world. About 698 per 100,000 of the national population are in some form of detention. According to a March 2020 report from the Prison Policy Initiative, the US criminal justice system detains almost 2.3 million people in various facilities in the US and its territories. Chief … Continue reading Defending the Fifth Freedom
Of concern to Ryan and others was the fine print: Tablet users would be charged up to five cents per minute to access most of the tablet content. This included otherwise free public-domain materials, such as books from Project Gutenberg. APBP facilitates prison book clubs, provides tuition for college classes in prison, and sends free books … Continue reading Prisoners Pay to Read
While the package contents were not limited to books, the proposed change hampered books-to-prisoners organizations in their mission to provide reading material to the incarcerated. A large part of the controversy stemmed from the initial five vendors’ limited selection of fewer than 100 books, many of which were coloring or puzzle books. Stories in The … Continue reading Restricting Books behind Bars
In Monday’s session “Librarians Go to Juvie,” Susan Warner, head of youth services at Kalamazoo Public Library (KPL), explained that 85% of juveniles involved with the court system are functionally low-literate, and involvement with the court system dramatically increases the high school dropout rate. In addition, 70% of all incarcerated adults cannot read at a … Continue reading Librarians Go to Juvie
