The Western State Hospital Library was toured by District #28 Senator Mike Carrell January 7. ILS staffers Laura Sherbo, Elizabeth Jahnke and Kathleen Benoun were on hand to greet the senator and tell him about the scope of services available to hospital patients and staff. District #28 includes Lakewood, Steilacoom, University Place, DuPont, Fircrest, Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base.
Well today I had the pleasure of giving a small orientation to a class from the education department. I also have another one this afternoon. I have found that these have gotten easier over time, but I still wonder what to say and I have to remember what they need to know. Checkout periods, how many books or CDs, mention ILLs and that they can only come in during their scheduled time, the re-entry notebook, and other things that are considered vital for them to know.
The most difficult part of my job is being a supervisor to the library clerks. As all library clerks are inmates they bring a unique aspect of supervision that I was not aware of before, trust. For the most part when you work in a library on the streets you hire people based on their work experience, their history, a background check may be done, and as such you hire the best person for the job. This is not always true when it comes to hiring workers for the library. Some times you are just hiring the least offe
After my first year working at the Washington State Penitentiary library I was ready to make a run for it, and "it" could have been anything at that point. I was tired of all the issues that come up with working around inmates, such as the theft of materials, the blatent disregard for authority, the endless request for information, being alone with no co-workers, and the constant battle with balancing the Department of Corrections policies with library policies.
What makes a person a library user? Is it the love of books? Is it the love of information and knowledge? Is it love for the latest gossip? Is it the need to hear the latest music? Who can really say? But the truth of the matter is all library users have one thing in common, the willingness to walk in the door and maybe just maybe discover something great. Library users in prison are the same as those that walk into the libraries on the streets, they have the same concerns, the same needs, and the same desires as "Joe the plummer".
