What began as an outreach opportunity between the Chesterfield County Public Library (CCPL) and the Chesterfield Juvenile Detention Home (CJDH) has evolved into a year-round partnership. The one-time CCPL-led book discussion — during the detention home’s summer school break — is now a multifaceted, year-round collaboration that encourages literary engagement. The program includes facilitated book discussions throughout the year, a revamp of the library, sharing books from the public library with CJDH residents, and updating and expanding the CJDH library collection.
The Chesterfield Juvenile Detention Home provides services to juveniles who have been placed in detention by court order. The facility – with a 90-juvenile capacity — typically serves 40 male and female residents between the ages of 12 and 19. As part of its state-mandated school, CJDH does provides access to a 2,000-book library. However, with no librarian on its teaching staff, juveniles were only allowed to visit and check out books once a week during their English class periods.
School Break Book Discussions
The partnership began back in 2021, when a select group of CCPL librarians developed a curriculum for a book discussion with the CJDH residents during the month of July. The librarians met weekly with residents to explore the chosen book through a variety of activities. Following positive reactions from librarians and residents, CCPL agreed to provide additional book discussions during the summer, winter, and spring breaks. A variety of books have been discussed, including Holes by Louis Sachar, The Body by Stephen King, and, most recently, Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina, who also visited and talked with the residents.
Author Meg Medina Talks About Her Books
Updating the CJDH Library
Without a dedicated school librarian, the library was in disarray. Books were not in any order, and many were old and unappealing to residents. The public librarians came in and weeded defective and outdated books and sent the remaining books to be organized through cataloging, which would then make them easier to find by residents. During the months-long cataloging process, when the residents were without their usual books, the public library loaned several hundred books for their use. When the cataloging process was complete, the detention home books were returned with proper labels and bar codes and added to an online system called Libib, which is an easy and inexpensive way for CJDH to track and maintain the collection.
Access to CCPL Books Not Available in the CJDH Library
Detention home residents have also been allowed to request and check out books from the public library through interlibrary loan. This has been helpful to residents who prefer reading series but were stymied because of gaps in the CJDH library’s book collection. Added benefits include increasing the capacity for special circumstances such as obtaining reading materials for special needs residents in areas like large print text and world-language books.
Donations of New Books to Expand the CJDH Collection
Chesterfield County Public Library was able to successfully secure a $28,000 grant from seven local Rotary Clubs to improve the collection and space at CJDH. Funds were used to purchase comfortable rocking chairs for residents to use in the school library and hundreds of new books, including graphic novels, urban fiction, career and resume resources, and replacement copies of items that had been weeded due to wear and tear. Additionally, some Spanish-language books were also secured to supplement the detention home’s sparse collection.
CJDH's New Rocking Chairs
In surveying detention home residents, the public library was able to learn that the changes made to the space and collections have resulted in an increase in the number of books checked out. Also, nine out of ten residents express satisfaction with the school library, with a majority reporting reading at least one book a week and a quarter reporting reading three or more books a week.
The resulting partnership has shown that library services within juvenile detention homes in Virginia have the ability – through reading – to provide residents with entertainment, escapism, and coping mechanisms, while broadening their knowledge and developing critical literacy skills. With 24 juvenile detention centers across Virginia, a public library partnership might be a rewarding outreach endeavor.
-Julie Grimes, Volunteer Librarian – Chesterfield Juvenile Detention Home (retired from Chesterfield County Public Library)
