More on LIANZA conference

Gail Daley, team leader collection development team attended the LIANZA conference.

“Take a walk on the wild-side”: library service at the margins. The challenges of prison librarianship. Susan Smith and Judith Wenborn.

I wanted to go to this session because ACL has an arrangement with the Auckland prison under which we donate withdrawn books, and I was interested to know how the service works and if there is any more we can do.

The librarians work within an environment of strict security. They can’t take in cellphones or cameras and have to get permission to have a USB drive. Anything that could be turned into a weapon is forbidden, so no jewellery or pencil sharpeners – pencils have to be sharpened with sandpaper.

Except for Christchurch the prison librarians around New Zealand all work alone, and resourcing is minimal. With very small budgets they rely on donations and loans from local and other libraries.

In Christchurch the library service is offered to over 1200 men on two different sites. In the main jail the prisoners are locked up for a minimum of 21 hours a day which makes the material they get from the library really vital to them. With so many hours locked up, visits to the physical library in the prison are very limited and the service is mainly delivered by way of a printed catalogue the men can choose from. But many prisoners often need to identify books visually, so it is better if they can visit the library rather than request through lists
They have books in the physical library and also photocopy legal documents, crosswords and magazine articles.

Legal information about parole boards etc is much sought after. Murder mysteries are popular. There are a number of restrictions on material and access to the internet and the catalogues of the National and public libraries is only allowed through a librarian.

They supply hunting magazines but won’t photocopy ads for guns. They don’t supply erotic material – although the prisoners can watch anything free to air on tv.

The librarians try to gauge a prisoner’s level of language and reading skills and what their interests are. They try to develop individuals as readers and will put together special interest reading lists.

Prisoners don’t like anyone else knowing what they have asked for – for instance, in a group situation librarians must be careful to talk in general terms rather than mention a specific title or author that someone has ordered. In Christchurch they run the library service with a large exchange of material between Christchurch jail and Christchurch City Libraries. This can be recreational reading, or can be study related. Material they are always seeking includes graded readers, youth interest magazines, Pacifica material and graphic novels.

Books are requested and sent to the jail as a loan. In the last two years they have borrowed 800 items and lost only two.

The librarians see their work as one means by which prisoners might be able to make a better life both in prison and when they are released. They will sometimes help a prisoner get membership of a public library on release based on a good borrowing history and behaviour when inside.

Access to the library service is a privilege. General behaviour often improves overall when prisoners have wider access to library material. If prison staff are not supportive it is very difficult to deliver an adequate library service so it is important for the librarians to develop a relationship with staff.

The prison library service is undergoing a review, so they are uncertain what the final outcome will be.

ACL has been sending selected donations to Auckland prisons for several years but there could be an opportunity to lend more material and develop a closer relationship with the prison library service.