Comments on: Reference Question of the Week – 7/8/12

By: WitchyLibrarian

WitchyLibrarian — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:58:23 +0000

We answer questions from inmates from all over the country at our reference desk (not often, but every once in a while). I had a particularly interesting letter once requesting information on the Haitian population in our community, where he could find a witch in the area, and where he could purchase a horse. Another was looking for pictures of family members that were in the local paper. We do our best to give them the info they’re looking for, even if they are 600 miles away and in prison.

By: Corrections Librarian

Corrections Librarian — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 19:06:32 +0000

I would not give out any information on anyone before obtaining permission, in writing, with the correctional facility first. Giving out personal information such as addresses, etc, may be public information, but let us not forget that inmates are not in the public sector. They are in prison for a reason and public librarians probably are not privy to that reason. Until a public librarian verifies that the information the inmate is requesting is something that is permissible, they may be providing information that is harmful to the public.

By: Reference Librarian (again)

Reference Librarian (again) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:58:13 +0000

Don’t assume that the prison either has a library and/or has staff (trained staff) for that library. In the state where I work (with the highest incarceration rate in the nation) that is definitely not true.

My agency is charged with, among other things, serving them. We are averaging 25 – 30 letters (or more) a week. Some letters ask “real” reference questions. The legal questions go to the Supreme Court Law Library (thank goodness). Most are looking for addresses. Some ask for one or two at a time, others for 50 or more. We do limit how much we send (20 pages), and know that what is sent will be reviewed before the letter-writer receives it.

They are library users/patrons and deserve to be served. They have information needs. Our job as librarians is not to judge their need, but to meet it. (I’ll get off my soapbox now.)

Oh, and I love the Reference Question of the Week!!!

By: wendy

wendy — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 16:58:40 +0000

It may be against library confidentialty policy or applicable state law for one librarian to discuss a patron inquiry with another librarian, particularly in term of the patron’s name and search query details.

By: The Librarian With No Name

The Librarian With No Name — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:40:04 +0000

When I worked in the government documents department of an academic library, I spent a lot of time printing out Westlaw records based on legal citations sent in from a local prison. Some of them appeared to be legal precedents for various crimes or cases dealing with improperly-conducted trials, but the clear majority were cases dealing with prisoners suing prisons for ill treatment.

As for contact information, unless an individual has taken the proper steps to remove their information from the public record, I don’t see any ethical problems with providing it. Just as librarians aren’t supposed to decide whether or not to check out a book to someone, it’s not really our place to bar someone from contacting a person who may or may not be thrilled to hear from them. As long as the information really is in the public domain, that is, and not culled from a list of celebrity cell phone numbers compiled by Russian hackers.

By: Brian Herzog

Brian Herzog — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:47:46 +0000

@Jessie: our rule is that if it's in the phone book or online, we'll provide it to patrons. The online sources I use are ReferenceUSA, and then a couple sites like switchboard.com and whitepages.com, but it varies. For celebrities, we use Celebrity Black Book or web searches to find their agent or office, and for public officials we try to find their office address. We don't get a lot of questions like this, and don't do exhaustive searches (which, usually, isn't necessary anyway).

By: Jessie

Jessie — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 00:35:58 +0000

I haven’t had to deal with that situation, but it does remind me of a question I have about finding addresses. It just seems like such an invasion of privacy to hunt down people’s contact information. Is there a general attitude about how far a librarian is expected to go to find contact information for celebrites, millionaires, and even common residents?

By: Lynn

Lynn — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 23:49:33 +0000

My current consortium has a prison library as one of the members. Questions often come to other member libraries from inmates at this institution (questions must be vetted by prison administration before being sent). All are answered as best they can be given the nature and completeness of the question – even if the inmate is not a resident of the other member library’s community. Other members will also answer questions from prisoners that are further afield.

For what it’s worth, our member libraries also answer reference, genealogy and local history questions from members of the general public that are not residents of their service area. Generally, they will refer detailed questions to a more local library that those patrons can visit in person.

By: Noreen Fish

Noreen Fish — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 17:39:57 +0000

We do respond to requests for specific info (we’d probably respond to the request for “millionaires” with a form letter asking for more specifics), but it depends on the institution and the individual asking. The local jail requires that any inmate requests be referred by the sergeants on duty.