Camden Tadhg, the State Library’s consultant to the youth correctional facilities, just returned from a site visit to Adams Youth Services Center, a detention facility where the average length of stay is less than two weeks. The teacher who oversees the library does an excellent job of creating a reading culture among the teens. So much so that an urban legend has taken root at AYSC: If you don’t finish a book before you leave, you will come back. A young man who is being released tomorrow was in a panic. “Ms. P – is there a really short book I can finish reading tonight?”
Author Archive for Diana
About Diana
Diana coordinates efforts of the Institutional Library Development team at the Colorado State Library. The 5 team members provide the leadership and expertise institutional libraries need to impact lives in meaningful ways - in adult and youth correctional facilities, mental health hospitals, and state veterans homes.
Email: Reese_D@cde.state.co.us
Website: http://ColoradoStateLibrary.org
All of Diana's Stuff
Kris & Sharon celebrate 8 years of AskColorado/Ask Academic with chocolate decadence.
Kris states, “We believe in our organization, and we continue to embrace and accept member feedback in a collaborative environment–all with the goal of improving service to patrons. We look forward to the current year with anticipation, and wonder what new changes and challenges lie ahead.”
On June 29th, the American Library Association adopted the Prisoners’ Right to Read: an Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights. This important action by the association asserts basic information access rights to all incarcerated individuals. Diane Walden, senior consultant in the Institutional Library Development unit of the Colorado State Library, was the primary drafter of this exceptional document. A year-and-a-half in the making, she guided the document through its many drafts and the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee’s approval process. Diane crafted a powerful document that will support those working in libraries serving the incarcerated for years to come.
Erica MacCreaigh, also a senior consultant in the Institutional Library Development unit, states, “I think The Prisoner’s Right to Read will prove itself the single most powerful document in the English language for correctional librarians. It carries a weight of authority not found in other writings about correctional libraries. As such, it should prove a substantial asset to anyone striving to uphold the fundamental principles of librarianship in an environment designed to oppose them.”
Even inmates got involved this month in Delta County Libraries’ The Big Read. Inmates read and discussed Jack London’s Call of the Wild, facilitated by Delta Correctional Center librarian Robert Pride. The finale to DCC’s Big Read was a performance by Blues musician and occasional mountain man Harry Harpoon, in town to perform at the Fort Uncompahgre Living History Museum. More than 50 inmates filled the library to be entertained by Harry’s steel guitar, harmonica-infused Blues and captivated by his stories of life on the road. Harry Harpoon performs at Mountain Man rendezvous and Blues festivals around the West.
Beginning January 25th, ALA-APA will accept applications to the first national, voluntary certification program for library support staff. Candidates who demonstrate achievement in six sets of competencies by completing approved courses or submitting portfolios that demonstrate achievement will be awarded the LSSC. Applicants do not have to be a member of ALA. The application fee is $325 for ALA members and $350 for non-ALA members. Complete information about the LSSC program and the application form are available online at http://www.ala-apa.org/lssc/.
The Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) is offering financial assistance to library staff enrolling in the certification program. CLiC will reimburse selected individuals for half the registration cost (up to a $175 value). The deadline for submitting the financial assistance application is February 28th. Contact Judy Van Acker, 719-640-5979, with questions.
The Rene Spitz School Library at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan (CMHI-FL) is the recipient of a $2,500 grant from the Lois Lenski Covey Foundation, Inc. Librarian Kate Elder requested the grant to purchase audiobooks to accompany the library’s most popular books, plus additional bundles of books and audio packaged together.
CMHI-FL is one of Colorado’s two state hospitals providing mental health services for persons with complex, serious, and persistent mental illness. Over 85% of students admitted to CMHI-FL’s residential school program read below grade level. For these students, access to audiobooks provides access to age-appropriate vocabulary and content in materials beyond their reading level. In particular, audiobooks can be an extremely useful learning tool to motivate poor readers, reluctant readers, or struggling readers.
The Lois Lenski Covey Foundation, Inc. is a charitable institute whose purpose is to assist organizations in providing books to children who might otherwise lack access to children’s literature. For more information, see http://www.loislenskicovey.org/index.html.
Library staff from youth correctional and mental health institute facilities recently participated in a Youth Staff Training Day, sponsored by the Institutional Library Development unit of the Colorado State Library and held at the Philip S. Miller Library in Castle Rock. CSL youth institutions consultant and event organizer Teresa Allen stated, “These library staff work exceptionally hard every day in a stressful environment, isolated from others who do what they do. The opportunity for them to get together to receive training tailored to their needs is invaluable.” Participants had lively discussions and took advantage of several special workshops. To make their well-read books last longer, Gwen Henderson (PPLD) shared her favorite book repair techniques. And Jill Jarrell, formerly of PPLD, shared 60 great reads to encourage literacy among young adult boys. Finally, attendees were inspired by Mark Hoog’s Conscious Leadership presentation to encourage their incarcerated and institutionalized students to develop and pursue their unique gifts and talents. As one attendee stated, “I was blown sideways!”
Not to worry; they were released the same day! The Colorado State Library’s Institutional Library Development team – Diana Reese, Diane Walden, and Erica MacCreaigh – recently sponsored a tour of the Sterling Correctional Facility libraries and education programs for CDE Commissioner Dwight Jones and his staff. Warden Kevin Milyard led the group on a tour of the 2,500-bed facility – an environment few get to see. Highlights of the tour were learning about two State Library programs within the Colorado Department of Corrections: the “Out for Life” and “Read to the Children” programs.
Sterling Correctional Facility Program Manager Ken Wildenstein, CDE Commissioner Dwight Jones, Colorado State Library Institutions staff Diana Reese, Diane Walden, and Erica MacCreaigh, and CDE Assistant Commissioner Gene Hainer visit the Sterling Correctional Minimum Center Library
Continue reading ‘CDE Commissioner Jones and Assistant Commissioner Hainer Go to Prison’
Colorado’s youth and adult correctional facility libraries are the information centers for their residents. The State Library’s Institutional Library Development team works hard to ensure residents have quality materials to:
support efforts toward self-improvement and successful reintegration into society- increase literacy levels
- promote reading as a constructive use of leisure time
- teach effective use of libraries
Assistance in helping us meet these goals is greatly appreciated. To help the public donate useful materials, there are new guidelines for Department of Corrections libraries.
For more information about how you can donate to any state institutional library, contact Teresa Allen, acquisitions and youth institutions consultant at the State Library.
Written by Erica MacCreaigh
On a very frosty evening, January 26, nine intrepid ALA Midwinter attendees braved the cold — and perhaps some trepidation at the thought of razor wire, locked gates, and Erica’s driving — to tour the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility and library.
Diana Reese, Erica MacCreaigh, and Lt. Gary Dolan were joined by academic, school, and public librarians, a corrections librarian, and an MLIS student for a two-hour tour of DWCF’s programs and housing – including the rehabilitative Therapeutic Community unit and the lively minimum security dog training unit –which culminated in a visit to the facility library. Continue reading ‘ALA Midwinter librarians “go directly to prison!”’
What You’re Saying