This serves as a revised edition of the author's Down for the Count: A Prison Library Handbook (1995), in which she wrote about prison libraries as fundamental parts of the correctional system. Now, referring to her own former experiences as Coordinator of Maryland Correctional Education Libraries, Vogel instructs fellow prison librarians on how to function in this environment. How does a librarian put together a viable book collection considering the censorship imposed by the prison authorities? How does he/she adjust to the watching, the listening, as well as the being watched that is a part of the culture? How can one keep one's sanity when the logic of the prison environment would be considered outrageous in the outside world? Most of all, how can the librarian best make a difference in the lives of the inmates for whom the library is the only acceptable escape from their grim surroundings? Vogel gives her answers to these and other questions in 15 succinct chapters. Although her book is directed at prison librarians, she also gives the general reader a poignant glance at what it is like to work in a prison. Highly recommended for correctional, public, and academic libraries.
Library Journal, April 2010
Vogel has done her homework for this work. . . . Throughout the text, she uses a judicious blend of philosophy and practical tips for the working librarian and adds a truckload of references to other current library science and criminal justice resources. . . . The beauty of The Prison Library Primer is that it challenges the opinions of its reader. . . . The reader is kept turning the pages because of Vogel's writing style.... There is something for everyone (correctional managers, correctional officers, elected officials, public policymakers, educators, librarians) in The Prison Library Primer, and I recommend that all these stakeholders, especially librarians and correctional professionals seeking to do and to understand the always difficult job of the facility's information scientist, read this book.
Corrections Today, February 2010
Presenting 15 well-researched and well-documented chapters, this work suggests innovative solutions to the challenges faced by today's prison and jail librarians at all levels of security to help these vital libraries grow, restore, and regenerate service. . . . This is a valuable book for any prison librarian or someone considering entering the world of prison librarianship. It can also be used by a student or scholar of criminal justice, seeking additional information about library and information services in prisons and jails.
American Reference Books Annual, May 2010
Brenda Vogel’s The Prison Library Primer: A Program for the Twenty-First Century is a well-organized, thorough, and practical guide to administering libraries in correctional facilities. Vogel, a veteran librarian with more than twenty-five years of first-hand experience as the coordinator for the Maryland Correctional Education Libraries, has written extensively on the topic of prison libraries. While her knowledge and experience lend credence to The Prison Library Primer’s content, Vogel’s unwavering commitment to an often-overlooked community of library patrons makes the book truly inspiring....The Prison Library Primer covers a range of diverse topics relating to the delivery of basic library services in a penal institution, a range that runs from collection development to technology, contraband, and library facilities....All librarians with an interest in human rights will benefit from reading this text. The Prison Library Primer is recommended for those libraries maintaining either criminal justice or information science collections.
Law Library Journal
Brenda Vogel's The Prison Library Primer: A Program for the Twenty-First Century is a well organized, thorough, and practical guide to administering libraries in correctional facilities. …While her knowledge and experience lend credence to The Prison Library Primer's content, Vogel's unwavering commitment to an often-overlooked community of library patrons makes the book truly inspiring.
Law Library Journal
The new work is a substantive, thoroughly developed guidebook for effective service despite the current punitive approach in corrections work and legal decisions....Highly recommended for libraries that serve or would like to serve prisons, state and county system libraries, and academic and library school libraries.
Booklist, February 2010