#so it was interesting to see such open & direct & shameless collaboration. clarifying.

[girderednerve]

remembering that ALA presentation i listened to where a librarian from this tiny rural southern library talked about the reentry services module her library started for folks in the county jail. she thought of starting it because when the library budget was slashed in 2008 they kept it operating by using unpaid inmate labor, and for many of those people it was the first time they'd used the library. the reentry program ended up being mandatory for release for everyone in that county jail, which she framed as a victory for library outreach. it's important to remember that while public libraries are often good they aren't actually separate from everything else. they aren't socialist bastions, or not inherently; the professional values that i hold dear are not actually separate from my personal politics, and that is true for every one of my colleagues, in ways both good and profoundly damaging.