Monday, February 03, 2020

Call for Chapters: Advances in Librarianship Volume on “Exploring the Roles and Practices of Libraries in Prisons: International Perspectives”

Call for Chapters: Advances in Librarianship Volume on “Exploring the Roles and Practices of Libraries in Prisons: International Perspectives”

We invite international contributions for Volume 50 of the Advances in Librarianship book series https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/books/series.htm?id=0065-2830 on the topic of libraries in correctional facilities. We welcome submissions that make a novel contribution to knowledge about all aspects of correctional facility libraries. These facilities can include both adult and juvenile correctional centers at national, state, and local/county levels. Empirical, methodological, theory-based and/or practical contributions are sought to add to existing knowledge regarding libraries in correctional facilities. This volume will be edited by Dr Jane Garner and is scheduled for publication in April 2021. Chapter proposals of between 500 and 1000 words are due by April 1, 2020. Authors will be notified of acceptance by May 1, 2020 and full chapters will be due by November 15, 2020. Please contact the volume editor if you have any questions.

We seek submissions from a wide array of disciplines and international perspectives for this volume of Advances in Librarianship focussed on the ways libraries in prisons operate and are managed, the role they play in the lives of prisoners, the challenges of offering library services and programs to prisoners and the benefits to prisoners who have access to libraries, books and reading. Both research-based and practice-based contributions will be welcome, as are those that blend these two approaches. In the absence of a strong body of recently published knowledge about libraries in prisons, this volume will take a broad focus and will include contributions from researchers, practitioners and library users.

Sample topics to be covered:
Topics of interest for this volume include, but are not limited to:
·         Collections
o   Collection management
o   Donations
o   Censorship
o   Resource sharing
o   Budgets
·         Circulation
o   Patterns of circulation
o   Collection usage
o   What prisoners choose to read
·         Information services
o   Capacity to satisfy information needs, including health and legal information needs
o   Information seeking behaviours of prisoners
o   Information use within the context of ‘life in the round’ and ‘information poverty’ in the prison context
·         Staffing
o   The role of professional staff
o   The role of inmate staff
o   Staff narratives of experiences as prison librarians
o   Attitudes of prison staff towards the library
·         Education
o   The educative role of prison librarians
o   The capacity of prison libraries to support prison education programs
o   The capacity of prison libraries to support informal learning
·         Impact
o   How prison libraries impact the wellbeing of prisoners
o   How access to prison libraries impacts prisoner behaviour
o   How access to prison libraries impacts prisoner education and literacy
o   The impact of books and reading on prisoners kept in isolation
·         Prisoner narratives
o   Prisoner experiences and narratives regarding their use of prison libraries
·         Technology
o   The case for allowing prisoners to access Information Technologies when in a prison library
o   The use of information technologies to deliver books and readings to prisoners who are unable to access a library
·         Library Design
o   Design features of successful prison libraries
·         Relationships with external organisations
o   Collaborations between prison libraries and public/State/National libraries
o   Resource sharing between prison libraries

Estimated length:
250 printed pages (approximately 10 to 15 chapters, about 15 to 25 pages each)

Estimated timeline:
February 1, 2020: Issue initial call for chapter proposals
April 1, 2020: Chapter proposals due
May 1, 2020: Acceptances/rejection notices issued
September 1, 2020: Full chapters due
October 1, 2020 Peer reviews returned
November 15, 2020: Final versions of chapters due
April 2021: Publication of Advances in Librarianship volume

Editors:
Jane Garner (jagarner@csu.edu.au), School of Information Studies, Charles Sturt University


Author Guidelines: