The role of prison libraries [TG2/Prison]

This event will explore different perspectives on the role of prison libraries. It will consist of one speaker working within the prison library service who will talk about offering prisoners as close to a borough library service as possible, despite some constraints, as well as giving mental health support to prisoners and raising the profile of the library service within prisons.

The other speaker is an academic whose research explores the delivery and experiences of education in prisons, with a particular interest in the role of universities in supporting educational opportunities for people in prison.

The event will be of interest to anyone wishing to gain further insight into this area of library work.

Programme:

10.00  – Welcome and introductions – Lee Taylor, British Library, and Amy Stubbing, University of Westminster

10.05 – Beverley Davies, HMP Wandsworth, Library Manager: ‘Current work in prison libraries’.

10.35 – Questions

10.40 – Break

10.50 – Dr Morwenna Bennallick, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Westminster: ‘Education on the Inside’: delivering higher education to students in prison.

11.20 – Questions

Speakers:

Beverley Davies: After a mixed career spanning from money broking to the Halifax and then a boys comprehensive I finally found my dream job 7 years ago working for the prison service. I have managed the libraries at HMP Wandsworth since December2015. We have seen many changes within that time span but every day is different. We get to make a real difference to the men we serve and believe that what we offer is as close to a borough library as possible given the obvious constraints. Recently I have set up a mental health and wellbeing section with the libraries along side Health England and this has been rolled out to every prison library in the country. I am on the CILIP prison library committee and enjoyed organising the recent training day – it was good to get back to face to face. We are now working on our advocacy document to continue to raise the profile of the library service within the prison service. When I am not working, I enjoy all the usual things including reading, theatre, gardening, walking the dog and socialising.

Dr Morwenna Bennallick is a senior lecturer at the University of Westminster. Her research explores the delivery and experiences of education in prisons, with a particular interest in the role of universities in supporting educational opportunities for people in prison. She has previously worked at the Prisoners’ Education Trust where she set up and managed two networks; PUPiL (a practitioner network for university partners working in prisons) and PLAN (a research network to promote and support high quality research in prison education). Morwenna leads the ‘Education on the Inside’ project at the University of Westminster.

Information for joining:

• This session is virtual and will run via Zoom. Once your booking has been confirmed, joining instructions will be emailed the day before the event.
• Electronic CPD attendance certificates can be provided on request. Please request via cpd25@london.ac.uk

Cost
£25.00 members
£50.00 for non-member institutions.

Cancellations less than one week before the event will be charged a 50% cancellation fee. In the event of a ‘no-show’ on the day, the full fee will be charged.

To book a place please use our online booking form. Please remember to include your PO number as bookings cannot be confirmed without this.