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.
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.”
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