Orange is the new academia: How my experience as a prison librarian enriches my approach as an academic librarian

摘要

I came to academic librarianship after a two year stint behind bars. Allow me to rephrase: For the past three years I have been employed as the librarian at a small career college on Cleveland's east side. Prior to that, my first professional job right out of graduate school was the sole librarian at an all-male, minimum-security prison on the far west side of the city. For 21 months, I had the opportunity to work directly with a service population unlike any I had ever seen before or probably will ever see again and I loved the daily interactions with inmates. I notarized documents, provided information about Ohio University's College for the Incarcerated Program, delivered recreational reading material to the segregation unit, and kept the law library current. Twice I was interviewed for "The Yard"-the monthly newsletter written by inmates in the computer class-and was known simply as Ms. G (G as in "Gangsta"). In my role as the librarian, I was witness to personal stories that both broke and lifted my heart in equal measure.