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.
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’
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!”’
The Advisory Committee for the national voluntary Library Support Staff Certification program (LSSCP) met all day January 22 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Denver. During Midwinter Meeting, ALA members and ALA Councilors will have an opportunity to learn about the program, ask questions, and provide input. The ALA Open Forum Briefing document is now available on the project’s website.
It is our hope the program will be approved by the ALA Executive Board at the ALA Annual Conference in July 2009, with field tests to begin in August 2009 and full program implementation by January 2010. You may learn more about the program and view project documents – such as the Business Plan – at the LSSCP project’s website. Your comments about the program may be made to the LSSCP blog.
Colorado State Library correctional library consultants Diane Walden and Erica MacCreaigh conduct a formal library orientation program for new Colorado Department of Corrections library staff. Gena Carini’s report on her library orientation experience provides an insight into the unique challenges and reward of correctional librarianship.
“I found dedicated, professional, and creative staff at all these facilities. I observed veteran library staff interact with offenders tactfully, confidently, and professionally, but also with real interest in them as library patrons. I saw different ways to make a library a welcoming place without sacrificing security.
I think the most moving library experience for me was visiting CSP. As this is a maximum security facility, the library staff must deliver materials to and retrieve them from the offenders daily. Our group was able to follow [the librarian] as she made her morning unit rounds. I was able to see a very organized, professional, yet calming and supportive staff member interact with offenders in a very unique and potentially dangerous situation. I learned that staff can be security minded and still provide great customer service, even when communicating through a tray slot. I was also impressed by her positive interaction with security staff, something very necessary in any corrections environment.
I also learned that, as programs staff, we are as important in maintaining a safe work environment as officers are. [The librarian] explained how her interaction with the offenders could affect their behavior the rest of the day. A harsh approach to an offender with an overdue book in the morning could lead to a confrontation with an officer that afternoon. [Her] approach to the CSP offenders reminded me how staff behavior and attitudes are reflected back from the offenders we work with. It reinforced how [library services] are a part of the whole corrections environment, not just a way for offenders to “kill time.”
support efforts toward self-improvement and successful reintegration into society
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