INSIDE - North Dakota Library Association

North Dakota Correctional System Libraries
By Konnie Wightman, System Librarian,
North Dakota Department of - Update & Volunteer Opportunity
Corrections and Rehabilitation
Last year I wrote an article (The Good Stuff, June
2009, p. 6) about the four libraries in the North
Dakota Correctional System and about what I do
as system librarian for those facilities.
Of the four facilities, the North Dakota State
Penitentiary (high security) has about 10,000
books, which are cataloged using the Library of
Congress (LC) classification system. The Missouri
River Correctional Center in Bismarck (low
security) has 3 to 5,000 books of which maybe
10% are cataloged using LC. In Jamestown at
the James River Correctional Center, which is
medium security, there are between 7 and 8,000
books cataloged in LC. At the Dakota Women’s
Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in New
England, there are 5 to 7,000 books, which are
not cataloged at all.
Last spring, we received a nice infusion of money
from the Director of Correctional Systems, Leann
Bertsch, and purchased over $21,000 worth of
books and educational materials. Many of our
books are donated and many of them are not
current, so we based our purchases on a number
of surveys done in the facilities and a study of the
titles, authors, and subjects the patrons request
through interlibrary loan.
We use the Destiny library automation system,
which can be used as a union catalog, and that
is the concept I am trying to put in place. My
goal is to get all of the books cataloged to create
a union catalog, so patrons can request books
that are within the system and take advantage of
the robust delivery system between the facilities.
Hopefully, this will help lower the number of
books requested through the North Dakota State
Library from other libraries, although it will not
eliminate that need since our patrons have wideranging
tastes. Many of our patrons are not able
to get into the library for various reasons and
The Good Stuff - Page 5 - June 2010
rely on shelf lists of what is available. Those who
can get into correctional library facilities have
a hard time finding what they want using LC. I
hope to change from LC to the Dewey Decimal
classification system in the near future. All of the
new books and donated books that we are adding
are being cataloged using the Dewey Decimal
system.
How You Can Help
I would like to encourage any of you living in the
Bismarck-Mandan, Jamestown, or New England
areas to volunteer some of your time to help me
catalog the uncataloged and donated books using
the Follett catalog system. It is copy cataloging
and I have library workers in each facility putting
information into databases in order to search for
and find matches for what we have on hand.
Because the copy cataloging cannot be done
inside any of the walls, I do it at home, although
it can be done from any Internet connection,
such as a computer lab setting. It’s quite an easy
process. As of now, I probably have enough data
to find records for 3 to 5,000 books. Once the
cataloging is uploaded on a flash drive, I take it
inside the walls and link each record to the book.
The environment is very safe and secure any time
I work there.
If you have the time and inclination to aid our
state correctional system, I would welcome your
help. If you want to find out more, please call
me anytime at 701.202.0307. If I don’t answer,
leave your name and number and I will get back
to you.
I truly believe that having a good library inside a
correctional system is as important as providing
any other kind of library. It opens doors to the
inmates that they would not otherwise have. Your
volunteer work would be very valuable in helping
others in a sad situation.