Correctional Services Program
If I am not for myself,
Who will be for me?
If I am only myself,
What am I?
If not now,
When?
--Hillel
The goal of The New York Public Library' s Correctional Services Program is to serve New Yorkers who are incarcerated or have been recently incarcerated, taking into consideration their special informational and recreational needs. The Correctional Services Librarian is available for consultation by appointment.
The service, which is sponsored by grants from the New York State Education Department, allows the library to set-up and operate book collections and provides programming ranging from job preparation to self-awareness and parenting in New York City jails and State prisons.
Correctional Services depends largely on volunteers, and partners with other existing programs to ensure that services are available for this population. For example, Correctional Services has partnered with the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, The Brooklyn Public Library, and the Fortune Society.
Connections
With support from the library, Correctional Services publishes Connections and The Job Search, an annual guide and directory of resources in New York City which can be of help to ex-inmates when they are leaving corectional facilities, and serves as a guide on job hunting.
Included are sample resumes, a section on ex-offender rights, and suggestions on how to handle the issue of time incarcerated when filling out job applications or going for job interviews. The booklet is free to those incarcerated in New York State prisons and local jails, and to agencies that help to provide service to ex-inmates.
The library prints over 8,000 copies, which are sent to federal and state correctional facilities, and to local city goverment agencies upon request, including community based organizations serving the prison population.
