Introduction

When the editors of Library Trends first approached me with the idea of guest editing a thematic issue about library services in prisons, I enthusiastically accepted their proposal. The focus of my work for more than twenty-five years has been on developing and improving library and information services to incarcerated persons, so this topic is close to my heart. I was also aware that the last Library Trends issue about prison libraries was published in 1977 (Volume 26, Number 1), Library Services to Correctional Facilities. Major developments, however, have taken place in correctional librarianship and prison libraries over the last forty years not only in the United States but also in many other countries around the world.published or submitted for publicatio