Library Tech Confidential

The Globe and Mail’s tabloid-style update on disgraced newspaper magnate Conrad Black’s life behind bars includes the following juicy tidbit (emphasis mine):

[He] has been nicknamed “Lordy” by his fellow inmates, orders around his cellmate, lectures on American history, and has been promoted to work in the library, according to a story yesterday in London’s Daily Mail. [read more]

I couldn’t track down any more details about his duties in the library, though the Daily Mail notes that the new gig affords him “virtually unlimited access to newspapers”… a perk welcomed by procrastinating library types the world over. 

Library behind bars gets forced into closet [Toronto Star] : “[A volunteer who] amassed more than 2,000 volumes, from thrillers to psychology texts [was told to] move the prison library into a glorified broom closet, perhaps 6 metres long and a mere 100 centimetres wide… Officials [say] they wanted to use the library room to store protective vests. Guards tried to intervene; they offered a variety of alternatives, and asked to be present when the issue was discussed in management meetings. They were ignored.”

This is happening in the Toronto neighbourhood where I live, perhaps a 15-minute walk from my apartment.

In fairness, Wikipedia’s entry for the Don Jail notes that, because it was only designed to hold prisoners briefly before and during trial, it lacks all kinds of facilities, including a proper laundry and sufficient telephones, exercise space and visiting rooms.

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“Torres Advanced Enterprise Solutions is recruiting for a Chief Librarian to manage the Detainee Library, under the direction of the Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.” [via Kottke]

Thirsty for some context? Andrew Selsky’s “Guantanamo inmates turn to library books“, an AP piece that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (among others) picked up last week might hit the spot:

The detainees are avid readers, according to the librarians. With detainees largely confined to cramped cells most of the day, reading provides an outlet and can help take their minds off the prospect that they may be jailed for years or even the rest of their lives with no trial…

Returned books are inspected. Writers of clandestine messages lose library privileges for a week, [librarian and Army Lt. John] Brown said.

The Centre for Social Innovation recently joined the Non-profit Library Network in Ontario, which also includes the Imagine Canada - John Hodgson Library (catalogue here) and seven other libraries.