[Michlib-l] serving the incarcerated from a public library question

[Cathy Sullivan Seblonka]

Hello, everyone.

How do you handle requests mailed to your reference department from
prisoners incarcerated in Michigan prisons whether the prison is within
your service area or not?

When a prisoner asks for books we write a letter to the prisoner and
suggest they use their prison's interlibrary loan system. We have been
answering reference questions such as what is the address of a particular
publisher, will you please send me a copy of a picture of a circus, etc.,
via return letter. Someone working at a Michigan prison is now questioning
us as to whether the public library should answer reference questions from
prisoners.

Does your library have a policy about this? What do you do when you
receive reference requests from prisoners? I suspect prison librarians are
overworked and cannot answer all the questions they must get.

Thanks for thinking about this and sending suggestions and comments.

Cathy

Cathy Sullivan Seblonka
Collection Development/Reference Librarian
Peter White Public Library
217 N. Front St.
Marquette, MI 49855
906-226-4312
cathys at pwpl.info