Dream Revisions -Library Standards for Juvenile Correctional Facilities

The Library Standards for Juvenile Correctional Facilities were last published by the Association of Specialized & Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) in 1999.  Inspired by advances made in other library standards for incarcerated adults (such as the 2010 statement on Prisoners’ Right to Read), I reworked a few sections of the existing Library Standards to better reflect the current moment in librarianship.  As librarians respond to and engage with shifts in personal technologies, calls for social change within and outside of the field, and the reality of institutionalized oppression within libraries, libraries working with youth who are held in juvenile detention will need standards that give them firm ground and backing in their myriad efforts.

I borrow much of the language from the 1999 Library Standards for Juvenile Correctional Facilities in these dream revisions in order to recognize the work of librarians before me.  I also draw from campaigns such as #WeNeedDiverseBooks and Libraries 4 Black Lives  as current, inspirational sources of information and support.

In my next few posts  you will find a dream revision of three sections of the existing Standards –

Section 2. The Role of the Library in A Correctional Setting

Section 3. Library Administration

Section 6. Library Collection

I post these for educational purposes only – not as a necessarily possible revision or as an answer to the many joys and frustrations that arise while providing library services to incarcerated youth.

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If you are interested, the 1999 Standards are available through the ALA store at http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=2273