Prison librarians must manage a library within specific security restrictions and regulations, providing services that serve the greatest number of users or have the greatest impact on the prison population. Safety and security are the most important considerations, and materials must be screened to ensure they are suitable for inmates.
A prison librarian is responsible for providing all the services of a civil library within specific security restrictions and regulations. Managing the different aspects of a prison library is the primary responsibility of this librarian. Librarians’ primary roles are dictated by the surrounding security environment. Maintaining the proper level of security is one of the most important aspects of a prison librarian’s job.
Prison librarians do their best to provide as much information to prison populations as is permitted by the prison or correctional system in which they operate. Due to limited civil staff, space, and funding, no prison librarian is able to provide all of the services available in a typical library. As a consequence, prison librarians must limit the services available to those that will serve the greatest number of users or have the greatest impact on the prison population. Most prison librarians limit prison library services to providing popular materials such as magazines and access to legal information.
While civil libraries may have many amenities, such as popular reading material centers, personal retreat areas, adequate staff, and even learning centers, prison libraries are limited to providing services that adhere to security protocols and that have the greatest impact on the greatest number of prisoners. Prison librarians must continually screen materials to make them suitable before making them available to offenders and can spend a lot of time looking for or intercepting “kites” – illicit handwritten notes left inside books for other inmates to find. A prison librarian must understand the security regulations of a particular prison. For example, in a minimal security environment, personal retreat centers, where library visitors can have some privacy and quiet reading, might be allowed, whereas in higher security environments, these privileges are never allowed.
A prison librarian is also committed to the library profession’s code of ethics, which embraces the concept of open access to information. The prison library does not function separately, but as a library within the general prison environment, and this relationship between prison and librarian can challenge this concept of open access. The prison librarian provides access to various levels of material based on inmate population demographics, availability of inmate staff, and the types of incarcerated inmates. A prison librarian needs a team to manage a large library, but he must also be sure of his own safety while working alongside in-house or trusted staff.
While free access to information is critical for a prison librarian, safety and security are the most important considerations. Hardcover books, CDs, and publications with staples are banned from prison libraries because they can be sharpened, used as armor, or made into weapons. Perfume and fragrance samples in some magazines are highly prized by both male and female inmates and must be removed so they are not used as currency to obtain illegal items. These “odors” can be used as currency for any kind of unauthorized activities carried out by the prison population, so they must be removed.
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