Thursday, July 31, 2014

#tbt or Throwback Thursday

Greetings loyal readers! In honor of Throwback Thursday (which is every Thursday if you are hip to the social media thing) I'm going to tell you a story of the much younger prison librarian me.......
The best advice I ever got was from my first Programs Captain: "People are going to get stuff over on you. They just are. The key is calling them out when you catch it." This advice really resonated with me because when I first came to prison it really bothered me that people would steal things and I wouldn't catch them doing it, like the day someone stole one of our pencils which had been attached to a long piece of string on a clipboard.
The next time that happened (and it happened again not long after the first time) I was lucky enough to catch it before the group that was in the library left. At first I was shocked at their audacity to steal a pencil right in front of me but then I had an idea...
I flicked the lights in the library and made an announcement: "Ladies! It seems my pencil has disappeared. I know one of you has it so I am going to go to my office and when I come back, it had better be returned, otherwise I will call yard staff and have everyone stripped out*." I proceeded to go to my office and turn my back on the library and by the time I made my way back to the circ desk- lo and behold- there was the missing pencil.
The moral of this story is twofold: first that sometimes they will pull a fast one and you won't catch it but sometimes you will, and second that many people probably had much worse contraband on their persons so nobody was going to get stripped out over a pencil.
Until next time!
*The term "stripped out" refers to the strip search aka the bend, squat, cough search that leaves no stone unturned if you will and is generally successful on finding contraband hidden in even the most intimate of places.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Prison Trivia Laugh o' the Day, Part II

I really need to do more trivia contests.  The joy I get from peoples' answers is enormous, especially when they learn something they didn't know before.  Today's final July trivia question is "For whom is the month of July named??"  This morning, one of my clerks jokingly (hopefully) told me: "I'm going to guess- Mr. July!"  Her answer made me laugh, and then made me think of firemen calendars, which is never a bad thing. ;-)

People are really responsive to small incentives like bookmarks.  Later today, I had a group of four patrons come to the office and all four told me their answer simultaneously: "Julius Caesar!"  I smiled and told them they all had the correct answer and as I was turning to get the bookmark prize list I heard one of them say "Yeah!  We be lookin' stuff UP!"  That made my heart smile.

When Minion #2 and I went to do deliveries across the way, we brought the bookmarks with us to make good on our survey prize receipts, and we decided that we would bring the trivia contest with us, since the male patrons never get to play because they don't have the reference shelf.  Today, we met a new patron who had just arrived and really wanted one of our sports car bookmarks.  Since he just got there, he didn't have a chance to take the survey so we offered him the trivia question.  When he heard the question, the smile on his face faltered, and he said, "Oh.  I didn't do too well in history."  Another male patron history buff happened to be standing there and he tried to help him out with hints, but the younger guy still had no clue.  Then, Minion #2 gave him a brilliant hint- "There is a salad named after him."

"CAESAR!" the patron triumphantly declared, to which I replied, "Yes, but which one?"

"Uh, the Fifth?" he guessed.  That made everyone laugh, and then I prompted him "Think about what name the month sounds like."

"Oh!  Julius Casear!"  And he won his bookmark.

This interaction, in addition to being a heartwarming story, is also a good reminder that we model the behavior we want to see in our patrons every day.  Yes, we had to give him some major hints in order to get the correct answer, but Minion #2 and I showed him that, while we are not going to automatically give him the answer because he wants something, we do care about his success and we will give him all the tools he needs to come up with the correct answer himself.  So, future prison librarians, every time you are interacting with a patron just remember, it might be easier to just give someone the answer they are looking for, but you will be doing them a greater service if you help them come to the answer themselves.

Until next time!

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Wacky Prison Weather Part 2

So after a lengthy discussion today, Min-tern and I have decided that she has brought the wrath of the weather upon us because yesterday was the second tornado I have seen in my life ALL IN THE SAME SUMMER.
As I was leaving work yesterday, I looked to the north and saw some completely normal looking rain clouds and the a very weird brown line of rain raining down. I also noticed that the rain was raining so hard it was kicking dirt up around it. "Hm. That's weird. It must be raining really hard over there," I thought and hurried on my way to master control to avoid the rain.  As I was leaving the lobby I jokingly told the lobby officer "Have a good night! Stay dry and watch for tornadoes!" to which he laughed and said ok.
Well little did I know, that weird brown rain was ACTUALLY A TORNADO. The person whose job it is to sound the tornado alarm had an epic fail yesterday because I could CLEARLY see the storm, but was not alarmed because there was no alarm.  I only discovered how close I was to an untimely demise when I got home and turned on the news while I was eating dinner.
So now in my life I have seen two tornadoes from prison. What are the odds? Until next time, stay safe and watch the skies!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Prison library tips for getting hired- Part II

Greetings, future prison librarians!

I wanted to talk a little bit more on tips for getting hired because that seems to be a popular topic and as I am now a "hiring supervisor" and no longer a "new professional" I think I have good things to add to the conversation.

When I was in library school, the question, "Why do you want to be a librarian?" came up quite often.  The vast majority of the new little MLIS candidates responded "Because I like books!"  Now, if this describes you, don't feel bad.  When I was first contemplating librarianship, that was one of the things that drew me to the profession.  My grandma was a prolific reader who didn't like to read used books, so I grew up going to her house all the time and being surrounded by books.  I'm talking thousands of books on every topic under the sun AND I could borrow whatever I wanted!  It was a bibliophile's heaven.  I liked books.  However, as you will find out if you are still new to the profession-being a librarian is about SO MUCH MORE than liking books.

When contemplating a career in prison libraries, you will be asked "Why on earth would you want to work in prison??" by your friends and family and "So, what makes you interested in prison librarianship?" by me when I am interviewing you.  Now, don't parrot these words back to me just because you really want the job, but if your feelings align with what I am saying and you just didn't have the words yet, that's ok.  I was nervous during my interview so I don't even remember what I said when asked why I wanted to work there.  Maybe they didn't even ask, I can't remember haha.  But here goes:

1. "I want to serve an underserved population."  To me, this is the prison library equivalent of "Because I like books."  It has promise, and is the right idea, but could be developed into so much more.

2. "I want to bring knowledge and information to people who oftentimes don't know how to use valuable, free resources."  A huge part of prison librarianship is library instruction, although usually it is not done in a formal, classroom setting like you would find in an academic library, but rather on the fly during a crazy busy library hour.

3. "Serving people is my passion, and I think the patrons would benefit from my desire and ability to share my knowledge."  Librarianship is a service profession which is why, in my opinion, people who have backgrounds in food service do very well in prison libraries.  If helping people does not make you feel a warm, fuzzy joyful feeling inside, then maybe you want to consider a different career path.

4. "Difficult people don't scare me and I enjoy a challenge." Patrons in prison can be extremely challenging.  They can be self-absorbed, narcissistic, rude, and downright mean.  Nobody enjoys being treated like crap so don't say "I enjoy working with difficult people" but if you can show me that you understand it's going to be a hard environment to work in and you are not one to run from a challenge, you will definitely score points with me.  Also, you need to understand that, as a prison librarian, not everyone is going to love you automatically just because you are the librarian.  You have to work hard and establish yourself as someone who is firm, fair, and consistent before you can enjoy the peace of the respect you have earned.

What other reasons do you have, dear readers, for wanting to work in prison?  


Wednesday, July 16, 2014

You know you've been in prison a long time when...Part III

And now, the stunning conclusion to my trilogy.......

10. You are no longer attached to your smart phone since you can't bring it into work and it has fried its little phone brain in your car one too many times, so you just leave it at home.

Comment:  There are no cell phones allowed in prison because they are contraband.  I have fried three smart phones by leaving them in the car during the hot summer months, so now I no longer bring my phone to work, unless I have to go somewhere afterwards and I need it to communicate or for navigation assistance.  That being said, I am no longer as attached to my phone as I used to be and I can go DAYS at a time without checking my Facebook.  It's actually nice, because by not being engrossed in my phone I can actually interact with the world and instead of 495 Facebook friends, I have real live friends that I talk to face to face.  It's quite nice actually, I highly recommend everyone go on a smart phone detox every once in a while.

11.  You have enough uniform shirts to not have to do laundry for 3 weeks.

Comment:  In my prison, we wear uniforms, and you get 5 shirts when you start and 1-3 shirts (depending on if you also order pants.  Note about prison pants--sometimes the zipper stops working and will just fall down at inopportune moments.  There's nothing more embarrassing than having an offender let you know your fly is down.  I have stopped purchasing DOC pants.) every year thereafter.  You can also go to the Old Shirt Closet and get more shirts if you need them.  Right now in my closet I have at least 15 shirts, and that's because I gave some of them to Minion #2 because her initial issue took forever to get to her.

12.  You tell people how to behave in public and they actually comply because you sound so authoritative.  

Comment:  This has happened to me at least twice that I can remember and they still make me laugh.  The first one was when I saw a kid stealing candy at the airport and I made him pay for it.  The second time was at a major retail store and I overheard someone complaining at customer service that there were kids panhandling outside the store.  As I was leaving, they asked me for money and I told them no and they needed to leave because this was not the appropriate venue for their actions.  I guess my librarian voice has a lot of power haha.

13.  You have to hold yourself back from telling people no touching and they need to be 6" apart at all times.

Comment:  This is similar to when you feel weird when people touch you-you also feel weird when people touch each other.  It's ok, people are not in prison and if they want to hold hands at the grocery store it is not your responsibility to stop them.

14.  You avoid dress-down days because your jeans don't have enough pockets.

Comment:  I also avoid dress-down days because my belt doesn't fit around my jeans because my work pants are high-waisted.  But even if I had a belt that would work, my jeans pockets can't comfortably hold my keys, and I don't want people to look at my bottom half in tight pants, which are the only kinds of jeans I own haha.

And that concludes my list of observations I have made about myself over these past 5 years.  I am sure I will think of more, which will just lead to more blog posts.  If any of you loyal readers have some funny stories about how you know you've been in prison too long I'd love to hear them!

Until next time!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

You know you've been in prison a long time when...Part II

Welcome back!  And now, some more ways you know you've been in prison too long:
5.  Everyone with a neck tattoo is automatically a gangster.
Comment:  My Gangster Radar is pretty spot on, because in prison there are a high number of gang members, because they frequently break the law.  (Consequences, and all that....)  This means that part of our job is learning to identify gang members with signs other than style of dress, because in prison everyone is dressed the same.  I highly recommend befriending intel staff because they will not only help you out when you have questions, they also have the best stories.
6. You see your old library clerk doing community service at an event and she tells you that you are not allowed to bring your beer into the event hall, then she realizes who you are and makes a joke about how SHE'S telling YOU what to do now.
Comment:  This actually happened to me last year.  Luckily for me, it was one of my old clerks who was an excellent worker and with whom I had good rapport.  While it was nice to see her doing well and staying out of prison, I am always a little wary when I run into ex-offenders on the street because if they ever come back, now they know more about my personal life than I am comfortable with.  It's also a good reminder to always be polite to everyone in prison because if someone has a leftover grudge against you, what better place to get back at you than on the street where there's not officers within a 30 second response window.
7.  You have memorized all the popular Dewey numbers, with the most popular being 364.1, or True Crime.  
Comment: True Crime and Urban Fiction were the first books I memorized when I was turned loose in the library.  I highly recommend you follow the same route.  Spend a lot of time out in the stacks, rather than behind your computer because you will have more of a presence for security measures, you will be more available to help with patron questions, and you will learn what books you actually have in your library.
8.  You automatically assume everything that comes out of anyone's mouth is a lie.
Comment: "That book was like that when I got it!"  "I know I turned that book in to the book drop!"  "I don't know how all those pages got ripped out of the magazine."  Many times people in prison say things that are not completely truthful.  It is recommended that you always check an offender's story with the staff member who allegedly told them to do something, because oftentimes the staff member told them no such thing.  Instances like that are good security and hold offenders accountable for their actions.  Where you run into trouble is when that skepticism and doubt creep into your real life and you start doubting things that your spouse or friends are saying.  Again, like in the post yesterday, corrections is hard work and the things that are necessary for survival in prison can lead to difficulties in your real life.  Thinking everyone is always lying to you is an extremely tough way to live, and leads to more pain than anything else.  If you see this happening in your life, make sure you take steps to fix it, because no job is worth damaging your relationship with your loved ones and there is help available.
9.  You are very paranoid about losing your keys and have enacted key control at home so you always know where your keys are at all times. 
Comment:  The worst feeling in the world is realizing you've lost your keys in prison.  (I've never lost my keys because I attach them to my belt with a lanyard, but I have misplaced plenty of click pens which causes almost as much drama since offenders are not allowed to have click pens.)  If you ever do lose your keys, or anything else offenders should not have, first, lock down and search your area.  Nobody in or out until a thorough search has been completed.  Then, if the item has not been found, follow your facility's policy which will most likely include locking down the facility and not letting anyone leave until the missing item is located.  Don't be that guy that causes everyone to stay late because you can't control your keys.
Tomorrow, the amazing and riveting conclusion..................

Monday, July 14, 2014

You know you've been in prison a long time when...Part I

This post idea came to me while I was driving home the other day, and I envisioned it as a "Liberry Lady's Top 10 Reasons You Know You Have Been in Prison Too Long" but I initially dismissed the idea because I thought, no way I could come up with 10.  Well, I started thinking about it and writing them down and I actually came up with 14 haha.  My colleagues who are in prison currently or recently will know what I'm talking about and for my future prison librarians-here's what you have to look forward to. :-)

Signs You've Been in Prison For a REALLY Long Time:

1. The last ten books you've read cover-to-cover all feature prominent nudity and/or gratuitous sexual material because you are checking for policy violations.  Then you really think about it and realize you haven't read a book for fun in months.

Comment: The policy against sexually explicit material to protect staff from having to work in an environment where they might be "uncomfortable" really just means that a few select staff will have to look at much more sexually explicit material.  I guess it's ok- I'll take one for the team to protect the freedom to read, and it really doesn't bother me anymore because I can see the humor in it.  My favorite one lately was a photograph someone sent in (to a male offender haha) and all the Mail Room put on the rejection form was "Naked Man Penis."  Well, I flipped the picture over and yes, that was a very accurate description because all that was in the picture was a dude passed out on a motel bed with his dong hanging all over.  If you are someone who is sensitive to nudity, or easily embarrassed, possibly prison is not for you, and that is completely ok because that is completely normal!  A lot of people do not like to look at pictures of random naked people, and I only do it because I get paid a ridiculous amount of money.

2. You have reached the point where you can not only think in the jargon of the administration, you are now able to make winning arguments about why certain changes are beneficial for your library.

Comment: I highly recommend learning everything you can about what makes the administration tick before you enter prison like a bull in a china shop trying to change everything.  If you can craft your arguments in terms that your chain of command can understand, you will be so much more likely to get what you want.  In fact, that is good practice for any job you have, be it in prison or not.  First, seek to understand the culture, and then try to make changes.  Change is hard for people, and if you don't do it right you will meet with nothing but resistance.  It is also a great idea in prison to learn the rules and policies front and back so you can make sure your changes and ideas are within policy.  If your changes are more along rogue lines, it will be harder to gain allies and you might end up alienating your library when it is extremely beneficial in prison to be seen as a team-player, while still protecting intellectual freedom and library privacy.

3. You have lost the art of conversation because you have had it drilled into your head that you must always maintain a "Culture of Silence" when interacting with people in prison.

Comment:  I definitely noticed this change in my personality during the middle years of my career.  Prison changes people.  When I started, I was so worried about establishing my boundaries and not befriending anyone on the advice of Basic Training staff that I stopped talking to anyone anywhere.  I didn't want to be viewed as someone who was too friendly with offenders so I was not friendly to anyone.  Thankfully, I have finally righted my pendulum and now have a happy medium where I can have good rapport with offenders while still maintaining my boundaries as their supervisor.  I definitely suggest being mindful of this in your home life as well.  Corrections is a career with higher than normal divorce rates (interesting article from Corrections.com here) and a lot of that is because spouses don't know what it's like to be in corrections, and the staff member doesn't know how to talk about it in a constructive way.  Corrections is tough and stressful, even if you are "just a librarian" and not an officer.  Frequently, we are the librarian AND the officer in the library because we work alone with no back-up and are mainly surrounded by offenders the majority of our day.  If you feel like you are losing your sense of self, please, please don't let it get so bad to where it causes friction in your relationship and home life.  There is help out there, and many DOC's offer some sort of employee assistance program.  There's no shame in seeking help redirecting your perspective, and things will get better eventually if you just ask for help.

4. You feel weird when people touch you, even if it's just the cashier handing you your change and receipt.

Comment: In my prison, there is a strict "no-touching" rule.  You are trained to hand people stuff so your fingers don't touch, because some offenders could take that as an invitation to start compromising you.  It seems extreme, but when you are new in prison it is very important, as mentioned earlier, to set your boundaries.  Nowadays if someone accidentally touches me as I am handing them stuff it doesn't cause me as much stress as it used to, but I am definitely still mindful of that contact because I don't want it to be interpreted as more than it is.  Now, there are some staff who regularly shake offenders' hands, or clasp them on the shoulder, and that is not necessarily a sign that any shenanigans are happening but for me personally I just prefer no touching at all.

Stay tuned for Part II, coming to a prison library blog near you!


Saturday, July 12, 2014

Honesty is the best policy

Remember, if you will, the previous post titled "Liberry Lady and the Case of the Bloody Book."  In it, I counseled a library patron about how I would prefer that if he damaged a book, he just be honest about it rather than lying and telling me it was like that when he got it.

Well, fast forward to the other day where this patron came up to me and said, "There's something I need to tell you."
"Yes?" I responded, intrigued about what he was going to say.
"I wanted to let you know, I had a flood in my cell the other day and while I was able to rescue the other books, this one got stuck to the floor and I am very sorry."

Upon examining the book, it wasn't that bad except for the back cover had peeled away where it had been stuck to the floor.  He did, however, bring me all the pieces of the cover. :-)

"I really appreciate your honesty, and the fact that you brought me all the pieces of the book.  Because of that, I will not charge you for this book this time."

The patron was very happy, and I was happy too because he actually listened to me the last time and he made the right decision to be honest about it rather than just putting it in the book drop and hoping we didn't notice.  We followed up with a conversation about proper book storage (not on the floor) and he left with the promise that it wouldn't happen again.

I call that a Library Victory.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Some days you just KNOW it's going to be a good day

Greetings, and Happy Finally Friday loyal readers!  Today's blog post is actually about yesterday where all of the following things happened to me before 8:30 am:

1. I had an excellent conversation with the new Mail Room staff about intellectual freedom and how it doesn't make sense to let in the local news magazine that is chock full of ads for drugs and phone sex hotlines (aside about phone sex hotlines: if you transpose the numbers of our ILS help desk hotline, it will actually take you to a phone sex hotline.  I have no idea what I mis-dialed but you can imagine my surprise as I heard a sultry-sounding recording start talking to me about "having some fun" when I was expecting an IT professional haha.) but the latest issue of Cosmopolitan is being challenged due to "sexually explicit material" which I am sure is some gratuitous side-boob and possibly some drawings of people to illustrate the "24 latest blow-your-mind-sex-tips" which are recycled in some form or another every other month.  The mail room staff agreed with me that if a child can buy a magazine at the grocery store, we do not need to be censoring it, which is a definite change from past staff.

2. I finally figured out how to add the new logo to my email signature.  On Wednesday this was causing me great consternation because the instructions simply said "Open the file, and copy and paste it into your email signature."  Now, I am an official, real-life librarian, and I COULD NOT figure it out which was causing me great stress.  Well, the next day they sent better instructions, which included about 5 more steps to get the permissions to copy the image and have it actually show up when pasted.  Now I am "compliant" with that part of the organizational change and I must admit, it is much better than what I had.

3. While going through my mail I had two offender kites that were inquiring about their library accounts in a polite tone AND used the word "Please."  Amazing.  Perhaps my Campaign for Courtesy is working muahahahahaha.

4. The newspaper came before I arrived at work, which is always cause for celebration.

5. Also while going through my mail I discovered someone donated a book to us titled White Trash Zombie Apocalypse.  Words can not even describe the level of glee Min-tern and I had at this discovery.  Ah, good times.

Yesterday was also good because I had a lovely site visit from one of my colleagues from another facility.  It is always nice to be able to spend time with fellow prison librarians, so I highly recommend that if your prison libraries or potential prison libraries do not have mandatory visits with other facilities you draft a proposal about all its benefits post haste.  If you want me to review the wording, I will be happy to assist.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Prison Trivia Laugh o' the Day

My minions and I like to have trivia contests periodically where we give out fun and inexpensive prizes like bookmarks.  Today the trivia question was "In what year was the Declaration of Independence signed?"  Now, for most anyone who attended 8th grade history, this is a relative no-brainer.  However, I received all of the following answers today:

"1848!"

"I don't know how to use the library."  (This patron was promptly given a quick library instruction lesson, and ended up giving the correct answer at the end of the hour.)

"1912"

"1776 BC!" (So close, yet so far...)

"1774"

And this exchange:
Patron: "I want a bookmark!"
Me: "You have to tell me the answer to the trivia question."
Patron: "Ok, what is it!"
Me: "Umm, YOU have to tell ME."
Patron: "Oh...."

To be fair (and rescue my faith in humanity and public education) we have had approximately 30 correct answers so far.  But, future prison librarians, this is a good lesson in remembering that something that is common knowledge to you may not be known to everyone else, and people love answering trivia questions for bookmarks.  Until next time!

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Prison Library FAQs

A huge thank you to Andreas, Prospective Prison Librarian who brought up some very good questions in a previous comment.  I will endeavor to answer them to the best of my ability without revealing any things that would be frowned upon by the Administration, should anyone really know who it is writing this blog.  I guess I should also say the standard disclaimer of "This blog represents my own views and opinions and does not represent or speak for the Establishment for which I work."  There, now on to the fun stuff.

Question: How did you acquire your position?
Answer: I came to prison completely by accident.  My MLIS concentration was Archives/Records Management, which, while intensely interesting, does not have very many job openings because once someone gets a job as an archivist, they die in that position.  I completely get that, if I were to ever get a non-grant funded archivist position, I would die there too.  Anyway, after graduation I was offered a grant-position in a state archives in the Midwest.  Unfortunately, the grant was almost over and the project was almost done, but the five months I spent working there were some of the best months in my life.  I had THE BEST boss and the work was fascinating.  Coincidentally, the grant ended right as the economy was crashing and even though my boss is one of the best-connected archivists this side of the Mississippi, I was unable to secure a position in the state so my HB and I decided to move back to our home state after I spent 4 months collecting unemployment and unsuccessfully searching for positions in my field.  When we got back home, I was immediately re-hired at my old bartending gig and then a couple months after that I got a sub position at a local public library.  When we moved home (November) I applied for the prison library job just so I could feel like I was trying and didn't hear anything back until February when they called me for an interview.  After the interview, I was offered the position and finally started basic training in May.  So if you don't hear back from prison right away, or even for a few months, that doesn't mean you were not selected, it just means that bureaucracy is VEERRRRYYYYY SLLLLLOOOOWWWWW.

Question: What are the educational requirements for working in a prison library?
Answer: This varies widely depending upon the system to which you are applying.  Having only worked in one prison system and never having applied anywhere else, I can only speak to our hiring requirements.  In my position of "Librarian II" the successful applicant usually has a MLIS, MLS, MSLS, or any other variation of a master's degree in libraries.  This is in addition to two years of "professional level" experience.  For the entry-level library tech position, the only requirement is a GED or High School Diploma and two years of general library experience.  There is also an elevated tech position that has a little more supervisory responsibilities and requires four years of library experience.  Now, I am lucky to be in the geographic location I am, because I have two techs who have master's degrees.  I like to look at my library as being in a  leadership position for the other libraries because we have so much book learning.  From what I have seen with regard to other prisons though, is that master's degrees are not as much required, possibly because they don't want to have to pay the library staff as much.  While I don't make as much as a branch manager at a public library, now that I am the boss I do make enough money to pay my bills each month and have a little bit left over for fun, which is definitely a blessing.

Question: What is the competition like for prison library positions?
Answer: Not being in on the decision for which applicants get an interview (I just get the list from HR) I am unsure of the exact answer to this question.  I think that the last time we had a position open, we had 24 applicants and 12 actually met the qualifications to be considered for an interview.  That's pretty good though, considering the extremely low salary that is offered for our tech positions, especially when most of the applicants have master's degrees.  But if you want to learn EVERY aspect of librarianship (and have a second income either from a partner or another job) it is a great environment to cut your librarian teeth.  Now, I am also in a major metropolitan area, so I am sure that I get WAY more applications than some of our more far-flung facilities.  That might be something to consider--if you are really interested in being a prison librarian and don't mind moving to a small town, the competition for the open positions is much less.  P.S. Yes, the "Why on earth would you want to work in PRISON???" is a response that people give no matter your geographic location haha.

Question: What is the difference between state and federal prison libraries?
Answer: I don't believe I have ever met a federal prison librarian, and my only experience with knowing they have libraries is that one time a library patron gave me a library request from the Supermax.  Aside from being impressed that he carried it all that way, it did him no good because we have our own forms for library services.  (If any federal prison librarians are reading this blog, or any potential prison librarians are successful in getting a federal prison job, I would love to hear about your experiences there.)  Now I am familiar with the differences between a state facility (where I work) and a private prison facility where I met someone who worked there at a conference not too long ago.  In my state, the state libraries are fairly well-supported and regulated.  We receive a lot of support from the State Library and while our budget is not amazing, we have enough money to buy new books three or four times a year and we can usually get a good amount of books.  We also have a phenomenal acquisitions librarian at the State Library who keeps us in donations from all the public libraries, so I think we are doing pretty ok.  There is always room for more money in libraries, but we are not destitute by any means.  I believe the private facilities are mainly supported by donations, and unfortunately this is also the case at some state facilities as well, depending on the state.  Also, private prison salaries are on the whole, much lower because the profit is the bottom line in a private prison.  I do know that in the grand scheme of things, our prison library is fairly unique in the set-up we have and most prison libraries you apply to will have their own rules and quirks.  From what I hear on the Listerv, lots of prison libraries face many censorship challenges on a daily basis, so you have to be a really good advocate for Intellectual Freedom.

My favorite story to tell about what I learned about prison libraries in library school is: "The only time I ever heard anything about prison libraries is when one fellow student said 'If you go visit prison, don't wear orange pants!' and I thought 'Who owns orange pants anyway?'"

One good resource for All Things Prison Libraries is Prison-L.  I highly recommend that all potential prison librarians subscribe to it, because there are many interesting posts, and it is also a good link to current prison librarians if you have questions about anything in the field.  Many of the Big Wigs in the field post to it (including yours truly) and I have found it to be an excellent tool for connecting with like-minded librarians.

Thank you so much Andreas, for your kind words and thoughtful post that brought up some excellent questions for anyone contemplating diving into this oftentimes crazy world of prison libraries.  If you have any more questions, or would like any more tips on cover letters, interviews, etc. please let me know.  Good luck on your prison library job search, and remember, whatever is meant to happen will, and don't be surprised if it takes many moons haha.

Until next time!