Rewriting the American Library Association Standards for Library Services for the Incarcerated or Detained

Abstract

Libraries can be a lifeline for people who are incarcerated or detained, their families and communities, yet library and information provision in American carceral settings varies wildly from state to state, and institution type to institution type. In this Commentary piece we describe how the ALA (with support from the Mellon Foundation) supported the work of writing a new standard for carceral library provision in the United States that better meets the needs of a justice-impaceted people and their families. The new Standards for Library Services for the Incarcerated or Detained provides concise recommendations and longer “Where it Worked” (WIW) narratives, showcasing how carceral librarians can partner with a broad range of stakeholders to meet the literacy, learning, legal, and recreational needs of individuals held in jails, prisons, detention facilities, juvenile facilities, immigration facilities, or prison work camps, whether public or private, military or civilian, in the United States and its territories. The new Standards explicitly address the needs of women, LGBTQIA+ people, the aged, people with dementia, people with a range of disabilities, and people who speak primary languages other than English. Library funding is often at the discretion of administrators who are not trained librarians, and who may not be aware of the extensive literature and evidence that demonstrates the importance of privacy of information access for incarcerated people (Austin 2021; Finlay and Bates 2019; Vogel 1995). The effects of restricted access to libraries and information have life-long implications for people who are incarcerated or detained, both inside carceral facilities and after release.