Libraries do not receive much stress in correction textbooks, and librarians are not ordinarily scheduled as speakers at correctional conferences or published in correctional journals. For these reasons and because good library services are not generally available in state prison libraries across the nation, administrators may not be aware of the advantages a good library and librarian can offer. A survey of the fifty state institutional library consultants concerning adult correctional institution libraries resulted in forty-two replies representing 223 major libraries and 202 camp libraries. As of the winter of 1970, librarians holding masters' degrees or bachelors' degrees plus school certification served full- or part-time in fifty-eight libraries in twenty-nine states. There were 955,154 volumes in the libraries in the reporting states; however, many of the books were described as old, outdated, or unsuitable. To meet minimum standards, there should have been 1,422,580 books of quality. The lack of qualified librarians together with inadequate budgets has resulted in uncatalogued, unclassified collections, insufficient discarding, poor staff libraries, a shortage of related staff services, and a lack of reference service, reading guidance, book discussions, writers' groups, and other library-sponsored activities. Information was also gathered on public library assistance to institutions, bookmobiles, inmate access to shelves, and separate rooms for reading, listening, and viewing.
