Reader Appreciation

Greetings, dear readers!  It's your friendly neighborhood prison librarian here with a very important message:

THANK YOU!!!!!! :-)

I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to read my blog, especially when there are many blogs out there in the world to read.  When I first started this blog oh-so-many years ago, I was super excited when I got 5 views in a week, and most of those were probably my mom, haha.  Now, I am pleased to report that this blog has more than 19,700 views!  Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought that this little coping mechanism blog that I started to help people learn what it was really like being a prison librarian would appeal to so many people.  Also, I have FIFTEEN followers!  That's more people than my prison library employs!  Simply amazing.  Thank you all so much.

Because you make reading my blog a priority, I am going to make writing more blog posts a priority too.  So, for the next month, I promise that I will post new blogs at least two times per week.  Also, I have been getting many emails to my askaprisonlibrarian@gmail.com email address, so it seems to be a great way to connect with you about questions specific to your situation.  Keep them coming, I want to answer questions YOU want to know about!

Until next time, which won't be as long as last time!

Prison Laugh o' the Day

Clerk: "I think this library needs to get its priorities straight."
Mintern: "How so?"
Clerk *Pulls out Homer's Odyssey and Homer's The Odyssey* "Why do we have two copies of a book about a stupid blind cat, but we don't have one copy of The Stand?"

Mintern had to hold back a laugh as she explained that we don't have two copies of a book about the cat. One is about the cat. The other is a Greek Classic. 

It was a priceless moment.

In memoriam

Greetings readers,
It's your wayward neighborhood prison librarian here again. You know how one day you're working on something and then get distracted with other things and then all of a sudden it's three months later? Apologies. And also sorry if the title of this blog caused any concern- Mintern and I are fine but we have some sad news to report.

Mr. Dr. Street Thug Hustler, whom you may remember from previous blog entries, has gone to that Great 'hood in the Sky. One day Mintern and I noticed that we hadn't seen him during deliveries for a while so we looked him up and it turned out that it was because he had passed away a few weeks prior. Apparently he had been taken to the hospital for some routine procedures but when the staff brought him a sandwich he got upset and told them "I'm not going to eat this!!" Thinking nothing of it, they stepped out of his room for a bit and when they came back he was dead.

Now, dear readers, you may feel a tinge of sadness for Mr. Dr. Street Thug Hustler but do not fret! He was NOT going to eat that sandwich and he didn't, which showed real commitment to his convictions right to the very end.

Until next time!

And now, some history

Greetings readers!  This blog comes to us courtesy of loyal follower Viviana S.  She created a very interesting infographic about the history of prisons in the United States.  Viviana writes:

The United States has the most prisons in the world in order to house the highest number of incarcerated people in the world. 707 per every 100,000 people can be found in a prison. Out of every 100 citizens, 3 work in the justice system. 1 in 9 State employees works in corrections. How this vast prison system evolved is examined by looking back at what there was before modern prisons existed.



Thanks, Viviana, for sharing your scholarship!  Until next time!

Here's an awesome job, move fast!!

Denver Women's Correctional Facility (Colorado)
Librarian II

If you are a Colorado resident and have some professional library experience under your belt and are looking to get into prison as a supervisor, apply for this rare opportunity in Denver.  It closes in a week though so move fast.

Prison Laugh o' the Day

Patron: "Yeah, I need to know where it's written that I can't run with a toothbrush in my mouth!"

Me: "Um, that's more of a common sense rule..."

Another job!

Limon Correctional Facility (Colorado)

Library Technician II

Here is a job for a Library Technician II in Colorado. If you are a Colorado resident, or can be quickly, this would be a good entry level position to get your foot in the door in prison libraries.  A good tip I heard for applying in Colorado--make sure you follow the instructions and thoroughly detail your experience to be considered.  Don't assume that HR will infer anything.  (This is a tough state in which to get hired.)

The application deadline is July 14.