[caption id="attachment_5332" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Melisa Gilbert "]
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Melissa Gilbert, Branch Manager at Coyote Ridge Correctional Center (CRCC) was recently interviewed by Moving Forward the CRCC Education Newsletter (Spring, 2011). Her responses give an inside look at the depth of services offered by our prison branches. You can view photos of the Institutional Branch Libraries' Snapshot Day at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=113371795396559&aid=24325#!/pages/ILS-Library-Snapshot-Day/113371795396559.
Washington State Library Interview with Ms. Gilbert by Roy N. Corbray
Q: What do you believe the library at CRCC has to offer students?
A: The library can help students with college class assignments by allowing the students to request scholarly research and additional interlibrary loan (ILL) books related to the topic of their class. Students can request up to eight articles and three books per class. The library has books about college level writing and about careers that college graduates can pursue. The library also has reference books that provide information about contacting colleges, finding correspondence programs, and applying for financial aid. Library staff can also help students by locating information about colleges and careers from the Internet.
Q: From your perspective, do you think the library and its services are fully utilized by students?
A: I think most of the students know they can request scholarly research articles, but not as many students know they can also request up to three extra interlibrary loan (ILL) books.
Q: Being a library in a correctional setting, what limitations are there?
A: The most obvious limitation is that students can't access the Internet and learn how to find research articles on their own. Knowing how to navigate databases of electronic resources (such as EBSCOhost) is an essential skill for any college student nowadays, and I'm not sure how incarcerated students will learn this skill. I also worry' that incarcerated students aren't learning 21st-century skills related to finding, evaluating and incorporating information into their own work.
Q: What are some additional services the WSL could offer students upon release that may not be known?
A: The WSL and Digital Archives have large collections related to state government and history. Students might find it useful to check with WSL if they are looking for historical or genealogical documents, maps, historical newspapers, government publications, photos, oral histories, or anything else related to Washington State history. They also provide a really neat online service called "Ask-A-Librarian". The librarian answers questions via e-mail, live chat (on the Internet), telephone and mail.
Q: Do you see any changes to WSL and its services in the near future?
A: I am working on three legal services training sessions that would be offered (we hope) once per month. I might be enlisting the help of one or two offenders, as a matter of fact. These "workshops" would be designed to help offenders learn more about how to use the legal services section of the library more effectively. We are also exploring the possibility of sending library notices over the kiosks in order to save time, toner and paper.
Q: I personally know how much work you do, not just for students, but for all WSL patrons. It's hard to see how many of the college-level programs could function without you. Before starting work here, did you have any pre-conceived ideas? Were they accurate?
A: Before starting work here, I worked at a minimum-security prison in Colorado. It was much smaller than CRCC. I knew Coyote Ridge would be different, but I didn't recognize how much the larger service population would impact the library's workflows. And I thought I would be able to organize more activities and
programming to promote books and reading . But due to the staffing, budget cuts, and the large size of this branch, I haven't been able to do anything like that. The other misconception I had was that legal research would be boring. It's really not that boring at all!
Q: If I were to ask you to tell us about the importance of a library, what would you say?
A: Honestly, you don't really need a library to access information. Information is all around you. You can obtain information from books, newspapers, television, radio and people. Even the sky has information (about the weather), if you know how to read it. The importance of libraries is that resources are selected and organized for a specific purpose, based on the type of library it IS. In general, librarians try to choose resources that are reliable and organize them in such a way that people can get their hands on the resources they need without taking too much time to search.
Q: Can I get a general statement in regards to your encounters with students participating in the AA (Associate of Arts) Program?
A: In general, the students in the AA program have been delightful. Sometimes they struggle to explain exactly what they need, but this is normal for any new student.
Many students who have depended on Ms_ Gilbert to find relevant materials for their classes have noted that they would never have gotten all they did from a class without her help. If you ask specific questions, Ms. Gilbert is the most dependable source for real answers and resources at CRCC. Her work is sincerely appreciated.
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