I can't share any photos from my Thursday (3/3) visit, because it was to a state correctional facility, and visitors aren't allowed to bring their phones in past security. However, since I haven't been posting many photos these days, I suppose it doesn't really make a difference one way or the other.
There are five medium security correctional facilities in our four-county service area - Watertown, Cape Vincent, Ogdensburg, Riverview (also located in Ogdensburg), and Gouverneur - and our public library system provides services for the libraries there in the form of interlibrary loans and state funding. I'm interested in developing a program with the librarian at Watertown Correctional, so she invited me out for a visit.
After a chat about some programming possibilities and the unique challenges to library service in a prison environment (no Internet access!), I helped out with an information literacy exercise for a class working on their high school equivalency.
The exercise was specifically about knowing where to go to find certain information and the importance of citing your source. Print reference resources like almanacs and encyclopedias were passed around so that the class could answer questions like, "What is the Roman numeral for 50?" and "What day of the week were you born?"
I have used neither a print encyclopedia nor an almanac in at least 15 years, so it was a bit foreign for me.* But what was very familiar was the simple activity of helping people with reference questions. After a while, I was surprised to find myself completely at ease, which I confess I had never before been during a prison visit. It's a bit sobering to be in a place you know you can't get out
of without someone unlocking a series of very big doors, some of which
are topped by razor wire. However, helping patrons is helping patrons, no matter where you are, and I was glad for the opportunity to broaden my perspective.
*And hilariously eye-opening how bad I've gotten at print reference. The only thing I remembered about the almanac was the Flags of the World section, and that was only because I was once a fifth grader. **
**Fact: Kids love flags.
Thank you for helping a group of people that so easily gets forgotten. I am sure it was a serious case of culture shock to you, one I can relate to as someone who unfortunately had to visit their brother in prison on too many occasions. It never gets easy, and you never get used to it.
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