Library Services and Incarceration: Recognizing Barriers, Strengthening Access

by Jeanie Austin

This book provides librarians and those studying to enter the profession with tools to grapple with their own implication within systems of policing and incarceration, melding critical theory with real-world examples to demonstrate how to effectively serve people impacted by incarceration.
As part of our mission to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all library patrons, our profession needs to come to terms with the consequences of mass incarceration, which has saturated the everyday lives of people in the United States and heavily impacts Black, Indigenous, and people of color; LGBTQ people; and people who are in poverty. Jeanie Austin, a librarian with San Francisco Public Library's Jail and Reentry Services program, helms this important contribution to the discourse, providing tools applicable in a variety of settings. This text covers practical information about services in public and academic libraries, and libraries in juvenile detention centers, jails, and prisons, while contextualizing these services for LIS classrooms and interdisciplinary scholars. It powerfully advocates for rethinking the intersections between librarianship and carceral systems, pointing the way towards different possibilities.

Genres: Nonfiction, Library Science, Professional Development

208 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 2021

Reviews

[Abe Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in a couple of hours for a research project. This book is dope

[Jen Keyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most recent publishing on this section of librarianship. The information that is given can be implemented in public, academic and special libraries to collaborate with prison libraries. Prison libraries are often an invisible form of librarianship but this book shows their efforts are meaningful and is a valid form of librarianship. Prison librarianship should be discussed in MLIS programs instead hidden until a student shows interest. This book help write a project for my own MLIS program and I believe it to be a valuable source for library advocates to help bring to light the cruel and limited access the incarcerated have, along with suggestions how all librarians can help their prisons around the country. Thank you Jeanie Austin for continuing to bring awareness of this invisible population not just on the inside but when released.

[Alondra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-researched and organized. I would have loved to hear more about the use of library technology in detail, though there was a full chapter dedicated to information access. A strong reference tool for libraries to keep on hand and work through together, particularly if in close proximity to a prison or incarceration center.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas, but sooooooo academic. I'm capable of dealing with academic writing, but I have no patience with it. Learn how to write English. I recommend it to those who care about the subject, but like me you may have to resist the urge to get your red pen and edit out some of the indulgent and precious academese.

[Valerie Brett]

Excellent; will be recommending this book to all my LIS colleagues. Full review forthcoming in IJIDI.