Prison Libraries the Scandinavian Way: An Overview of the Development and Operation of Prison Library Services

Ljødal, Hilde Kristin; Ra, Erlend

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/18746 Copy

Description

Title

Prison Libraries the Scandinavian Way: An Overview of the Development and Operation of Prison Library Services

Author(s)

• Ljødal, Hilde Kristin
• Ra, Erlend

Issue Date

2011

Keyword(s)

Library and Information Services to Incarcerated Persons: Global Perspectives

Abstract

Economic and organizational structures are important factors that affect how, and to what extent, prisoners receive satisfactory library services. In the Scandinavian countries, the services offered are largely dependent on existing national policy. In Norway, changes in the organization and financing of prison library services over the past thirty years have led to improved service. During these years, there have also been changes to public library services, largely as the result of new technology. Such changes pose challenges to government authorities at all levels, as well as to individual prison libraries, in regard to what services should encompass and how they are provided. The development in Norway in the area of prison libraries and the challenges these libraries face are presented and compared with the prison library situation in the neighboring countries of Sweden and Denmark. The main emphasis is placed on national policy and organization, with particular focus on the positive developments of recent years in Norway.

Publisher

Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

ISSN

0024-2594

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/18746

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2011 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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