Prisoner Reentry and Employment. No. 515.

More than one in 100 adult Americans is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal government, according to a report released today. The new report by Pew's Public Safety Performance Project details how, for the first time in history, more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison—a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety.


With 1 in 31 American adults in prison, jail, on parole or probation, the US prison system is in crisis.
Hundreds of prisons nationwide are overcrowded to the breaking point, and high recidivism rates are largely to blame: 39 percent of prisoners have served three or more sentences. This cycling in and out of prisons is taking a devastating economic toll on already-vulnerable urban communities. At this critical moment, policymakers and experts are determined to come together and develop concrete solutions to making sure that people who leave prison do not reoffend and go back.

A report focusing on strategies that cities can use to tackle these problems will be released in the weeks following the summit.
WHO: The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM)

Reading:

Jahnke, E., et. al., Institutional Library Services - Where Positive Change Takes Place. PNLA Quarterly v. 71 no. 1 (Fall 2006) p. 10-11, 17-20.

Campbell, D. K. The Context of the Information Behavior of Prison Inmates. Progressive Librarian no. 26 (Winter 2005/2006) p. 18-32.

Eisenman, R. When Is a Prison Not a Prison, an Inmate Not an Inmate, and a Guard Not a Guard?. Journal of Information Ethics v. 14 no. 2 (Fall 2005) p. 61-5

Global Summit on Social Responsibility Includes Librarians. No. 514.

The Global Summit on Social Responsibility - Leveraging the Power of Associations for a New Magnitude of Leadership, will define how associations can harness their power and influence to create a worldwide social responsibility movement, speed the spread of solutions and ultimately help build a better world. Global Summit participants will collaboratively craft the principles, guidelines and actions that will transform this initiative from conversation to action.

In an e-mail Fred Stoss [past-Chair of SRRT and co-Chair of SRRT's Task Force on the Environment] tells of his networking that has resulted in librarians as a case study as well as the news that he will attend.

Greetings Folks!

While the sun shining brightly is always good news in Buffalo on a cold and blustery day in February, there is much more brightness to share!

Last August I noted in one of my emails a request from the American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership was looking for input about professional associations' commitments toward social responsibilities. As a past-Chair of SRRT and co-Chair of SRRT's Task Force on the Environment, I submitted the name of ALA and had a nice phone conversation with them after my initial email submission. We talked extensively about some of the work SRRT and TFOE
have done in the past, and I told them ALA has a much larger outlook on social responsibilities.

Well, the results are in and ALA appears to be in good company as one of the six case studies, as indicated in the note below from Kristen Clarke.

PEACE!!
Fred
Frederick W. Stoss, M.S. (zool/ecol), M.L.S.
Associate Librarian
University at Buffalo--SUNY

Kristin Clarke from ASAE has a question about ALA's environmental task force work:

Hi, Fred. You might recall talking to me about NAHB's terrific social
responsibility activities for our case study of your organization on ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership's web site (www.asaecenter.org/socialresponsibility) last summer.

The six case studies on the site have been very popular reading with association leaders who are beginning the journey toward more sustainability as an organization and industry-huge thank you for all of your input and for being a good role model!

Anyway, our CEO, Susan Sarfati, asked me to contact you to see if you both or at least someone from your organization who is knowledgeable about NAHB's social responsibility endeavors could attend our Global Summit on Social Responsibility April 30-May 2. Susan is hoping to have a number of attendees who actually have incorporated SR strategies into their association successfully, so she asked me to follow up with you personally.

I think you'd really enjoy the meeting-you can participate several ways.The face-to-face hub site near DC is at the soon-to-open Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor across from Alexandria (limit 500 people), but you could also attend virtually if you absolutely couldn't make it in person. You can visit our SR site for more Summit info and registration:
www.asaecenter.org/socialresponsibility

Dr. David Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve University will be guiding everyone around the globe (at satellite sites in about 20 countries and 16-22 US locations, as well as virtually) through his world-famous appreciative inquiry process to explore what the association sector might do to better both the world and our organizations through strategic integration of social responsibility into our operation, activities and goals.

Anyway, it would be so great if you could make it, and we'll likely be referencing your case at some point during the event, just to get people to see that associations, not just corporations, can reap real rewards from strategic social responsibility. Please buzz me at 703/876-0514 or email me tomorrow or Friday and let me know if you're interested or are going. Susan asked me to check with you and the other 5 case study contacts in particular.

Cheers, Kristin Clarke

Libraries Help Consumers Understand the Housing Mortgage Crisis. No. 513.

"Subprime lending" is the focus of a website at the Cleveland Public Library.

The University of Florida has posted resources on The Housing Bubble.

Library Boy's blog alerts us that "subprime" is the American Dialect Society 'word of the year.'
[Thanks LCW].\
The BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime.

2-1-1 Call Center Status. No. 512.

What is 2-1-1?

* 2-1-1 is an easy to remember telephone number that connects callers to information about critical health and human services available in their community.
* 2-1-1 reaches approximately 196 million people (over 65% of the total U.S. population) in 41 states and the District of Columbia. Yet, millions of Americans still need to be connected.
* America needs 2-1-1 to be accessible nationwide. As the number of organizations providing specialized services is on the rise, people find it frustrating and confusing to access community services. 2-1-1 provides a one-stop service for vital information.
* While services that are offered through 2-1-1 vary from community to community, 2-1-1 provides callers with information about and referrals to human services for every day needs and in times of crisis. For example, 2-1-1 can offer access to the following types of services:
o Basic Human Needs Resource: food banks, clothing, shelters, rent assistance, utility assistance.
o Physical and Mental Health Resources: medical information lines, crisis intervention services, support groups, counseling, drug and alcohol intervention, rehabilitation, health insurance programs, Medicaid and Medicare, maternal health, children’s health insurance programs.
o Employment Support: unemployment benefits, financial assistance, job training, transportation assistance, education programs.
o Support for Older Americans and Persons with Disabilities: home health care, adult day care, congregate meals, Meals on Wheels, respite care, transportation, and homemaker services.
o Support for Children, Youth and Families: Quality childcare, Success by 6, after school programs, Head Start, family resource centers, summer camps and recreation programs, mentoring, tutoring, protective services.
o Volunteer opportunities and donations.

Information Literacy-International Logo.No. 511.

UNESCO and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) invite everyone to propose an international Logo to identify the work on information literacy. The aim of creating this Logo is to make communication easier among those who carry out information literacy projects, their communities and societies in general.

As adopted in the Alexandria Proclamation of 2005, at the High Level Colloquium on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning, information literacy is defined as a mean to empower “people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals”. Information literacy is a “basic human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion in all nations.”
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The Information Literacy Section of the International Federation of Library Association and Institutions (IFLA) has created this database to record information literacy materials from different parts of the world, on behalf of UNESCO.

Librarians, educators and information professionals are invited to participate. If you have developed information literacy materials and would like to share them with the world community, please submit the required data.

On the Road to Freedom. No. 510.

On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail.By Charles E. Cobb Jr. Algonquin Books.


This in-depth look at the civil rights movement goes to the places where pioneers of the movement marched, sat-in at lunch counters, gathered in churches; where they spoke, taught, and organized; where they were arrested, where they lost their lives, and where they triumphed.

Award-winning journalist Charles E. Cobb Jr., a former organizer and field secretary for SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), knows the journey intimately. He guides us through Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, back to the real grassroots of the movement. He pays tribute not only to the men and women etched into our national memory but to local people whose seemingly small contributions made an impact. We go inside the organizations that framed the movement, travel on the "Freedom Rides" of 1961, and hear first-person accounts about the events that inspired Brown vs. Board of Education.

An essential piece of American history, this is also a useful travel guide with maps, photographs, and sidebars of background history, newspaper coverage, and firsthand interviews.

Libraries are Between Scylla and the Charybdis in the 2009 Federal Budget. No. 509.

Libraries are between the Scylla and the Charybdis in the 2009 federal budget. While libraries nationwide are suffering budget cuts and truly need additional revenues such as those announced by IMLS, how can we enjoy our privileged status while children's welfare is cut and the health care system slashed?
See LIBRARIAN for details.

REFORMA III . No. 508.

The REFORMA 3rd National Conference will continue to reflect the spirit of inclusiveness of our previous national conferences while allowing us to share our collective knowledge, expertise and commitment to excellence in serving the need of the Latino and Spanish-speaking.

REFORMA, established in 1971 as an affiliate of ALA, is committed to the improvement of the full spectrum of library and information services to the growing population of Spanish speakers and Latinos in the United States.