What to read, my advisory for those in Limbo...

The segregation unit houses those inmates that have to be apart from the rest, and for twenty-three hours a day they are alone with their cell and two paperback books. So the library provides two thick paperbacks a week for them to read. My recommendations are: Border Triology, Killer Angels, Gates of Fire, A Soldier of the Great War, King Hereafter, Eisenhorn, Wheel of Time, Dune, Song of Ice and Fire, Lord of the Rings, Lonesome Dove, Honor Harrington, Wars of Light and Shadow. Those that are part of a series are only a problem if the author dies with the series unfinished, if they don't write faster and publish more it could happen. Still there are patrons from Seg that only want magazines with lots of pictures, I provide those also. When you have nothing to do, reading is a great way to escape from your solitude. I have read those titles so I must share the way out.

Resolutions or resolution?

End of the year is about here; I have completed weeding three hundred and four items from the collection this month. Weeding is one of those terrible secrets about Public Libraries that those that love books don't like to talk about, needing space for newer and better (one hopes) circulating items. But I could use the same treatment in my home, getting rid of the excess I will never use again, or in my life getting done with those wasted minutes in a life poorly spent. Here in the prison the inmates have a sentence and time remaining to be served and they are experts at what they must do to get out any sooner, unless there is a surprise they didn't expect in their future. I have to come up with a six year plan, all I have left before I start draining the Social Security Trust Fund with the rest of the Boomer generation. I figure to also look at the ten year plan at the same time, having been granted three score and ten years as the life of a man. There are several things I won't become: a Presidential candidate, a suicide bomber, a holy man, nor a drug or alcohol addict. I do have some things I would like to do (a bucket list?) and some titles I don't have yet but would like to (a fine fellow?) and positions I could work at earning (Elder?). Well, back to regular work, buying new titles to replace the ones weeded.

Holiday Blues in Limbo...

There is a Ceramic Green Christmas Tree in the Library, it is quiet, one of the only programs open, since much of the staff has departed for the holiday celebration nearer to home. I have been in similar places, far from home and warm Season's Greetings. In the forgotten areas of warfare, in the prisons, on exercises in the deserts and the snows or lush jungles, in a bunker or a guard tower - the Limbo of waiting for the magic moment to pass by, that piece of time when parents once loved you, grandmothers fussed over you and fed you the best cookies, when your siblings and cousins gathered to test the sleds on the snows and throw snow balls and make snowmen, that magic isn't here but it is inside everyone's tormented soul as we wait for the time it should have rung in JOY! to pass. We go on living and waiting for the return to normal, knowing that our family can't call, email, or even visit where we wait... for the minutes stretch and the sleep doesn't come and there is no peace in Limbo. We hope you have it, Peace on Earth, where we came from and hope to return one day.

Where I blog from

I was reading Kim du Toit, and he was displaying his computing area, but not what he blogs in, so it prompted me to take another picture of where I am, in the Computer Cave, standing up sipping coffee which needs a refill.

What do they read? isn't the important question...

When I give briefings to visitors to the library I am often asked 'what do they read?' and the cheap throw away answer is 'True Crime, of course'. The truth is that 'they' (the inmates) read everything that you do, except they can't go online and the Department of Corrections has a list of books and types of information that would be bad to have them read while in prison, mostly about security issues. I think the more important question is 'what do they steal from the library?'.

I mostly think that only stupid people steal from a free library inside a prison fence where they can never get it outside. But then the intelligence of some patrons is questioned in every library I have ever worked at, in response to their questioning mine or my co-workers', certainly. But back to what they steal, they start with stealing the sports section of the newspapers, for betting on fantasy football or other real events. They steal the colored pictures of beautiful models digitally enhanced, if not also under a plastic surgeon's care. Those things are easy to hide and pull out when one has forgotten what their sexual desires are focused on, needing refeshed. Some of the fancies are a bit stranger but I have purposely missed mentioning those.

The theft that is costly is of books, 'the self-weeding collection' as we in the prison libraries understand it, and the most popular ones are the ones that give them POWER. Robert Greene puts together a book, titled "The 48 Laws of Power" and it is immediately stolen. Yes, we do have a 3M security system and all the books are sensitized and how long do you think it takes them to figure it out? However it happens, the book is now gone, and we buy a replacement. Robert Greene comes out with another title "The Art of Seduction", and it is immediately stolen and I buy a replacement. Do you see the pattern here? He has a third book "33 Stategies of War" and we haven't seen it since the second circulation. I am buying all three in paperback and will read them and then donate them to the library, for they do have some excellent information that I have gleaned from a life time of reading, and Robert Greene found the same and put it together nicely. I expect they will also be stolen, for the inmates that steal from our libraries inside of prison have lost everything, feel no control of their lives and are afraid of most people and things around them. So they steal what they hope will make them stonger, and then don't read it, just hide it and hug it for warmth and feel it makes them a player again.

Kind of like those self improvement books, how to build one's abs - you can buy five or six of them - but until you start curling your body and flexing the core and working tirelessly in motion the abs don't change - not from hugging those books or putting them on the shelves, they must be read, practiced and re-read and understood. But then I did mention what kind of an inmate steals books, didn't I? Luckily most inmates just check the books out and return them very late, overdues abound, for inmates have a personal time that doesn't match the date due stamp - not very fair, most books come in on time or are re-newed, circulation is about seven thousand items per month, and I only have to replace the stuff that wears out or is lost. I only have about twenty books 'missing' in action a month. Write another one, Robert Greene.

pistols at twenty paces...

Well, the plate is full today and I go out to buy stuff and do things. I take a little time to stop at the Range on Ft. Lewis and fire my Micro Compact 45 ACP, by Springfield Armory. I haven't fired it in a long time but it was small enough to sneak out of the house without setting off my wife's alarms. I pick up the target and two hundred rounds only expecting to use fifty.

I like to use the twenty yard line, anything beyond that I would want to have a rifle or I would turn and run away to hide better. They say that bringing back dueling would promote better manners, I don't think so but then only once would you have to put up with bad form from that fool. I blazed away on the first five magazines and was low and all over, all on the paper but random and not really effective.
I wander looking at other targets, most other pistoleros are using the seven yard line, and some have a large hole in the center of their target, lots of bullets and well done in 9 mm. I talk to one of the riflemen, he is shooting two rifles, one a heavily modified Garand, 338 Winchester Mag, shooting that semi, in that load? I have to believe him, it is right in front of my eyes - he offers to allow me to shoot but I pass - temptation is a terrible thing but like most one has to test and taste it to become addicted, and I pass. Still an awesome weapon and sight. One of my old inmate clerks would have loved to have seen that fired, and fire it himself, but he won't get the chance unless he finds full pardon somewhere in his future. He lost so much, permanently, that the rest of us take for granted or foolishly try to prohibit for safety reasons on others. Bill of Rights, anyone?
I finish firing another twenty-five rounds on the Shoot-n-C targets, ten on top, ten on the bottom, then my rear sight slid off during reload and I used only the front sight post and have no evidence that the target was touched, NONE, so I will have to fix that so it never happens again. Use both sights, just wishing death and destruction doesn't work as well as a correctly operating weapons systems and the skills needed. But then I work in a real gun free zone, only the Irish prisoners get weapons into jails for killing their brethren, and my only targets of choice are paper, or far away and about to die without my assistance. Now back to that list of things to fill my weekend's work.

Fridays fly

Up to the alarms, take the medicine, make the coffee, take the measure of the man, gobble the vitamins and supplements, make the gruel, listen to the news and weather, check the absent email and decide that the motorcycle stays in the stable today, rain is on the way. Shave, dress and grab the pickle, apple and sandwich and out the garage door to the Caravan. Thirteen miles to the parking lot at Western State Hospital, park and put on cap and gloves and start the walk down to the dock. I walk because it is downhill and reminds me of Pennsylvania and it feeds my reputation as "the guy who walks everyday"; others think I do it for my physical fitness, but I know I do it for my mental state, the tranquility of the solitude with nature.
I get on the ferry and find a seat close to the exit, then close my eyes and pretend to meditate or fall deeply into a nap, twenty to thirty minutes worth is another excellent beginning to my day. When the ferry has crossed and is tied up the signal is given to disembark and the race is on, it is Friday and the first five off the boat and up the gangway to the pier are already stretching their legs and picking up the pace. I am one of those racing to get into the prison, to be among the first through the control gates and inside. Every morning the same racers and the same lack of reason for the speed, but they do it anyway. The most difficult part of the quick walk is stepping around and between the goose droppings on the road and sidewalks, it shouldn't bother any of us, it is organic and totally natural and biodegrading... as we speak. We get by the Corrections Officer checking for badges (someone would try to sneak in?) and hit the stairway and take the steps two at a time and then we stop and look back at the herd following slowly behind.
Control allows us through and passes out keys, cuffs and radios to those that need them. I have take-home keys and just go for my distribution pick up and then down the Corridor to the Library. I watch the inmates stroll along, kicking their heels against the tiles, no hurry in them, they aren't going any faster than they want they know the rules - no running. I nod to the ones I need to acknowledge (all that know me and who I am because they use the library) say hello to Officers and inmates that greet me. I unlock the library and start turning it on, taking off my jacket and stuff to stay awhile, change the backup tape, put a new battery in the radio on my belt, type in passwords for the computers and the level of user, go unlock the book return box and switch bins.
When movement is called the crew will report in, I log the time and greet them, the talk dwells on whatever happened since the last we saw each other - dreams, visits, plans for today's work and adjustments in operations. They check for overdues on hold, ILLs, and reserves against the incoming materials. The ILL clerk starts getting the outgoing ILLs bagged and addressed and all the paperwork pulled and the status changed. I look for incoming email, ILL requests and missions from headquarters. The new books are linked and finished processing, the Acquisitions Report checked against our version of reality - and there are too many missing book orders so a lot of typing is done to tell them so. I get to check every outgoing package for content address and then seal it up for shipping. After the morning work is done and Recall is called the crew leaves together and I take the mail and the distribution to the Communications Center and the Mailroom. Dropping off and picking up, somedays there are three bins full with new book boxes and some days only half a bin without the newspapers.
Lunch is alone, in the quiet of the library with a new magazine to browse in front of me, the pickle, sandwich and apple don't take long and I am up and breaking down the mail, newspapers, magazines, and opening incoming ILLs, ours returning or those requested. I go online the log in the reception, print a sheet for the item and give them to the ILL clerk. The crew starts to trickle back in after their lunch, which was not much better than mine but in the company of their peers, under the watch of the Corrections Officers. The book return box is emptied again and the library prepares for the influx of patrons.
I register new patrons, the Chain came in yesterday and the new guys start showing up, I look for information, find books that are asked for and show my clerks how to find Labor Unions in the Yellow pages. The library is humming, actually it is closer to a low roar, but it is a mellow roar not an angry one. Different groups at different tables, the Corrections Officer that monitored the movement into the library cut it off at forty, and sent about twenty inmates away. We weren't open last Friday and these units are a couple of hours behind in library usage. Music across the hallway doesn't seem open today, as the services are cut or closed because of staffing problems or weather the library becomes much bigger an event in the inmates choices for time well spent.
We are open for three periods this afternoon, from 12:40 to 3:45 and the time flies, I am not finished when Recall is sounded and everyone moves out. The crew tells me to have a great weekend and they will see me on Monday, as long as I don't win the Lotto and take off to Hawaii they will. I turn all the computers off, put the radio and certain keys away, I finish typing the missing books on my response to the November report and email it to headquarters and log off the computer. Burned up another day, no boredom and feeling like I have actually helped find the right information for several of the inquiring minds. I turn off the lights, look around and notice the pile of procrastination has expanded, but the Program Manager told me years ago that I would never be able to complete it all and leaving it for the next work day was okay. Ah, but that wasn't how my Fridays are supposed to finish. I lock the doors taking the last distribution out to drop off and head outside the gate to walk down to the waiting ferry boat, not racing this time. I won't think about the library again until Monday morning. The weather is gray but dry and fine, the weatherman lied, I could have ridden my motorcycle and smiled broadly coming and going between work and home, breaking out in laughter periodically when it is perfect. Well, I know dinner awaits and a full list of honey-do needing done, what is a weekend for? All of the above.

Work Alone in a Prison? What kind of fool am I?

I mentioned wanting to look into other employment since I feel alone at work, but then I am a loner so what am I looking for? I did take a test for a job in one Public Library and was called to schedule an interview session with another Public Library System, so I am working at seeing what is out there, but my wife reminded me of what my problem was with the Public Library before, aside from the part-time positions I was working (evenings and weekends, of course). Seems that I had forgotten how bored I was there - you know the times that there isn't a patron in sight, all the work seems done but you dasn't get caught doing nothing by the management - ah, the times when you can only think and check books for status, or start shelf reading. Boring, after all - the excitement is inside the books, on the tapes and cassettes and as staff on tax payer money I only get to use the materials on my time at home. So I went for the full time employment in a prison library and boring it never has been.

http://wastatelib.wordpress.com/ That link is the Washington State Library blog, directly from the State Library building in Tumwater, Washington, and it is boring. I actually worked there in Collections and Media sharing (ILL) once and nice enough people but in the end it was boring, too much time to do so little. When the chance came to return to a prison library I jumped on it and have been very well employed ever since. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/office/employment.aspx is the WSL employment link and you could paste it and visit and look at the offerings, they just don't describe the eight hour days and the mad rush of impatient patrons, all certain the universe revolves around them and only them first... and always. That might scare most gentle library types away...

I expect that if you haven't worked inside a prison that you think there are too many terrible people around and it is dangerous, and that might be almost true. But I have about seven years in prison libraries and only one half-hearted fight the entire time I have been working, the real fights are held elsewhere so they can't be interrupted by staff and the Emergency Response Team (Goon squad to the inmates). The more dangerous problem is staff being influenced to break the rules for an inmate - name the rule and they will try to get a staff member to break it, there are almost as many illegal activities inside a prison as outside. When they put tobacco off limits inside the facility the inmates say it just changed the price of the tobacco - since a heavy smoker still smells like stale smoke, I would have to agree that someone is still smoking.


Still like the world outside the fence, most prisoners (inmates, felons and violators) inside the fence are going about behaving well and getting along. They do demand that staff obey the rules and regulations (although they are sure they are okay to break the ones they need to) and there is a long list of customs and polite manners that other inmates know and dare not break without paying the penalty for crossing the line. Everyone makes choices and stands on what they have chosen to do. I watch, work and talk about this and other things with the questioning patrons and penalized, every work day. One never needs count the minutes and the hours for the days fly full.

Why a Library Keeper?

I like to think that a Library Keeper is like the old Lighthouse Keeper, providing light for safe navigation to wandering sailors looking for a successful voyage. They, always those that want to feel in charge, won't allow me to use that title on my business cards nor signature block for emails but then I am not exactly what they wanted in my position anyway. I ride the ferry across the sound to McNeil Island, to the prison (a Corrections Center by current thought) and I unlock the doors to the library, turn on the computers, enter the passwords, unlock the book return box, and greet the inmate library clerks as they wander in to work. During my forty hour work week I provide eighteen point seven five hours of library services and access to over a thousand inmate patrons, that may only pack forty in the library at a period, about one hour. Except for the inmates in Segregation and IMU we don't deliver, the patrons have to find time to visit the library for the materials they want to borrow. I do some reference for them if they send me a "kite", which is a form for communications between inmates and staff about their requests and thoughts. Most will visit the library, if they are readers and looking for self improvement or answers they will find the time and come in. The library is one of the places without any Department of Corrections staff stationed watching -- it becomes quickly recognized as a place of personal freedom, where they can meet buddies, find books and music and discuss things. This has to be one of the noisiest libraries I have ever worked at. So why am I here, well, I was fleeing women... no, that isn't totally true, they offered me full time employment in a library and I thought the job was important because I could make a difference. I have made a little difference, for those willing to work at it, but overall prisons only contain inmates well, making model citizens of them isn't going to happen for the rules inside a prison are set by the criminal elements, junior high morality and attitudes and lack of growth. I was very depressed by finding the prison not a corrections institution, no one is corrected just contained. Well, I have been corrected a few times, but then I respond to the corrections because I want to do a better job and am mature (I am really OLD) but you understand. I am seriously looking for other employment, but content enough with my position and the pay to stay unless something really great shows up (winning the Lotto would do it). The biggest reason to leave is the loneliness, for I am the only staff in the library all day (unless my superiors decide to find out what I am doing wrong and show up to tell me about it) and that really means all my buddies are convicted felons. Really the people I speak the most with daily, that I know about their lives and families, feelings and faults and foolishness (real buddies) are convicted felons. I indentify too easily with them, but then I do know that I am not really like them. Still, I keep the library open, do find materials for the patrons, answers to questions, encourage better behavior and opportunities and hope that once the patron leaves they will go out and do much better, visiting your public libraries for more growth and entertainment. Since I have run into some of them at my local library, I know it does happen. I guess I like being the Library Keeper and providing regular library services to those in need, lots of need. Oh, yeah, I can see it now, when I die I will take the job at the edge of Hell and provide library services for those in need in deed. Well, I have heard that I would be known by my close associates, and they are all felons.