Submitted by Camden Tadhg, Acquisitions & Youth Institutions Consultant, Institutional Library Development, Colorado State Library
Do you serve youth in detention and correctional facilities? Are you interested in working with this highly-disenfranchised and incredibly rewarding population? Then check out the newly launched website of Library Services for Youth in Custody at www.youthlibraries.org !
All across America, youth are incarcerated or detained with little or no access to high-interest, culturally relevant library materials or engaging programming. Research has shown that free and independent reading is the number one tool to improve literacy, a vital component to reducing recidivism. Because youth come from and will return to all communities, library services for these youth are vital to everyone. This site is designed to share best practices and facilitate networking between people providing library services to incarcerated and detained youth and to encourage everyone to promote and support high quality library services to incarcerated youth in their communities.