My Wish List

• The Dedicated Ex-Prisoner's Guide to Life and Success on the Outside: 10 Rules for Making It in Society After Doing Time. Richard Bovan

• Getting Out & Staying Out: A Black Man's Guide to Success After Prison, Demico Boothe

• Wiring a House 4th Edition: Completely Revised and Updated, Rex Cauldwell

• Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny. Hill Harper

• Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine to Foie Gras. Jeff Henderson

• Eager Street: A Life on the Corner and Behind Bars. Arlando "Tray" Jones

• Best Jobs for Ex-Offenders: 101 Opportunities to Jump-Start Your New Life. Ron Krannich

• Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit of Hope, Healing and Forgiveness (Chicken Soup for the Soul) [. Tom Lagana

• The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Wes Moore

• Beyond Bars: Rejoining Society After Prison. Jeffrey Ian Ross

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African American topics

• Africa: Mother of Western Civilization (African-American Heritage Series)Yosef ben-Jochannan.  (Any book by this author)

• Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey Marcus Garvey

• As Nature Leads: An Informal Discussion of the Reason Why Negro and Caucasian Are Mixing in Spite of Opposition. J. A. Roger

• E. Ethelbert Miller-  Any poetry book by this author

• Rogers, A. J.  Any book by this author 
• They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient Americ. Ivan Van Sertima

• The Mis-Education of the Negro. Carter Godwin Woodson

Self Exploration/psychology

• Beyond Anger: A Guide for Men: How to Free Yourself from the Grip of Anger and Get More Out of Life. Thomas J. Harbin

• Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American city [. Antero Pietila
• Rage: A Step-by-step Guide to Overcoming Explosive Anger. Ronald T. Potter-Efron
• Angry All the Time: An Emergency Guide to Anger Control. Ronald T. Potter-Efron
• Best Resumes and Letters for Ex-Offenders (Overcoming Barriers to Employment Success. Ronald Krannich

Books from the Jist catalog  http://www.jist.com/shop/web

Donations criteria

I have been getting questions about donations since the Washington Post article.  Below are the criteria

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/glennor-shirley-head-librarian-for-md-prisons-believes-in-books-behind-bars/2011/03/25/AFXcTbYB_story.html

We try to provide up to date information that will assist the inmates to make a successful reentry back to the community.  We have current legal databases and current reference books

What we do not accept:

• Old magazines
• Old law books
• Text books
• Old classics
• Damaged materials, including books that are brown with age.
• Any material that compromises security, for example, materials on how to on building bombs, making weapons, martial arts, attack strategies, pornography, etc.

What we accept if materials are in good condition:

• Reference materials no older than 2 years
• Current Non Fiction (psychology, self help, self improvement, relationships, starting your own business, business plan, career, English language dictionaries, health information
• Anything on the NYT and Washington Post Bestseller Lists
• Popular authors, like Grisham, Ludlum, Patterson, Stephen King, Alice Walker, Patricia Cornwell, Grafton, etc.
• Mysteries, horror, romance, books by African-American writers
• Materials that enhance our occupational programs.  Landscaping, building, roofing, plumbing, etc.

 

Any questions Contact:  Glennor Shirley  email:  glennors66@yahoo.com

Prison Library Resources-Books

Periodically I get questions from staff who work in prison libraries. The main question is - What do you do for materials when there is no money? I suggest librarians do what I do. Check and evaluate online and other groups that offer books to prisoners, for example:
Books behind Bars,
Prison Library Project
Prisoners" Reading Encouragement Project

Check out organizations that offer grants. One of our librarians did a successful application for the BIG READ. It was reported in the local newspaper Cumberland Times Media reports usually bring some community interests and support. I send out requests to my local libraries and they have been very responsive with left overs from their book sales or book discussions.
I encourage each librarian to develop donations criteria or they will find themselves with Bibles, Textbooks, Old classics, outdated encyclopedias, and books that are brown with age. Books that the donor's great grandmother left in the basement and he or she just hate to discard, but feel giving it to those poor prisoners is a worthy cause. Criteria for donations to prisons on ALA OLOS website