Introduction

When the editors of Library Trends first approached me with the idea of guest editing a thematic issue about library services in prisons, I enthusiastically accepted their proposal. The focus of my work for more than twenty-five years has been on developing and improving library and information services to incarcerated persons, so this topic is close to my heart. I was also aware that the last Library Trends issue about prison libraries was published in 1977 (Volume 26, Number 1), Library Services to Correctional Facilities. Major developments, however, have taken place in correctional librarianship and prison libraries over the last forty years not only in the United States but also in many other countries around the world.

Through my many years of work within IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Organisations), I had made contacts with library professionals from many countries, who were already involved with prison libraries or were exploring options for developing outreach services or other collaborative programs with these facilities. From these colleagues I became aware of a great number of innovative and progressive prison library services and programs around the world, so I decided it would be interesting to share this knowledge with the broad readership of Library Trends. Thus, I invited some of my international colleagues to share their experiences, challenges, and accomplishments. The intent was to include articles from every continent, but that was unfortunately not possible. The reader will find contributions from North America and Europe, where many nations have long traditions of having libraries in prison, as well as from Japan, where just recently attention has been focused on this need. The contributors represent librarians who work on the front lines in prison libraries or supervise such libraries (Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, United States), university librarians and researchers (Italy, Poland, Spain), consultants for national library development (Norway), and parliamentary libraries (Japan). Many of the authors are also actively involved in special interest groups within their national library associations and have included their experiences with advocacy for prison library services.

The contributors were asked to highlight national, regional, and local developments over the last twenty-five to thirty years and to discuss successful practices and progressive policies that had been implemented. They were also asked to include information about governance structure and funding, relevant research, and examples of collaboration between public libraries and prison libraries. Although prison library services in the included countries covered in this set of papers exist at various levels of development, the reader will recognize that those who work in the prison environment face many of the same challenges in their daily work and must overcome many of the same obstacles.

This issue casts light on an area of librarianship that focuses on users with special needs. Incarcerated persons, by the mere fact that they are unable to use libraries in the free community, can be considered "disadvantaged." These patrons have many other strikes against them, including low literacy, nonexisting job skills, substance addiction, emotional and mental problems, and poor life coping skills. The reader will see how dedicated library staff develop and adapt services and library operations to the interests and multiple needs of this very demanding population group.

The reader will discover how changes over decades, and even centuries, in the philosophy guiding the rights of prisoners and their punishment and treatment have influenced the development of prison libraries, in both positive and negative ways. Several articles describe the historical context of prison library development and include information about governance, legal mandates, and funding mechanisms. They describe the role played by national library agencies, national and local cultural agencies, and prison authorities. It is interesting to observe how countries have developed different service models, including formal contracts with public libraries to provide all services and collection development (the Scandinavian model, France, Italy, Spain), services being funded and delivered almost exclusively by the correctional agencies (Canada, United States, Germany, Poland), a hybrid of the two models (United Kingdom), and the exploration of a balance between privately obtained reading materials (by the inmates themselves) and inadequate collections provided by individual prisons (Japan).

Several articles describe how research findings, standards...