Prison Librarianship (582 PLO)
spring 2021
Online, Thursdays from 6 PM – 8 PM Central Time
This course discusses library and information services across a spectrum of carceral institutions in the United States (including juvenile detention, jails, prisons, and immigration detention facilities). It draws from critical theoretical positions, analyses of power and information, and information generated by people who are or have been incarcerated to provide a broad understanding of how libraries in carceral facilities currently function and possibilities for new types of services. It incorporates library history, discussions of censorship, services to people who have not been prioritized within library and information science, and discussions of surveillance and state power as frames to understand the provision of information inside of carceral facilities.
- Teacher: Jeanie Austin