Parallel Workshops
This interactive workshop shares insights from a Community of Practice (CoP) designed to strengthen collaboration between prison and public libraries. It explores CoPs as a model for building cross-sector relationships within the criminal justice system, and demonstrates how stronger library partnerships provide more holistic support for people impacted by incarceration, both in custody and in the community.
Libraries play an important but often overlooked role in the criminal justice ecosystem, supporting wellbeing during incarceration, enabling access to information and informal learning, providing family reading initiatives, and supporting resettlement. Effective collaboration between prison and public libraries is critical to this continuity of support. However, research shows that recent changes to prison library contracting in England and Wales risk fracturing historically strong partnerships.
In response, the speakers established a cross-sectoral CoP to maintain, strengthen, and, in some cases, kickstart collaboration. Spearheaded by the British Library's Living Knowledge Network in collaboration with the CILIP Prison Libraries Group and the University of Sheffield, the CoP gives practitioners space for dialogue, to share good practice and research, and to improve integrated services for communities impacted by incarceration.
This workshop will explore how the CoP was developed, the opportunities and challenges of cross-sector working, and initiatives which have already emerged to provide positive outcomes for people in custody and their families. Through presentation and participatory activities, attendees will reflect on how the CoP model might apply in their own context and gain an understanding of the role and value of libraries within the criminal justice system.
Dr Jayne Finlay is a Lecturer in Librarianship in the School of Information, Journalism and Communication at the University of Sheffield. Her work broadly focuses on the provision of library services to people impacted by incarceration, both in prison and in the community. She has carried out research on engagement with library services during incarceration, prison-based family reading programmes and the professional experiences of prison library staff. Holding a PhD in Education, she is keen to bridge the gap between education and library research, exploring how libraries serve as transformative spaces for informal learning and social connections.
In 2021, Jayne led a national review of prison library services in Ireland and continues to engage with policy development in England and Wales. She works closely with the CILIP Prison Libraries Group to facilitate professional development opportunities for prison library staff and to strengthen partnerships between prison and public library services. She sits on the committee of the Irish Prison Education Association as Liaison Officer.
Katherine Blamire is Head of the Living Knowledge Network (LKN) at the British Library. LKN is a Network of 33 library authorities across the UK. Through a programme including exhibitions, live streams and events the LKN works to enhance meaningful engagement between libraries and their communities, increase access to culture, collections, and information and support library staff. Katherine is passionate about libraries as important spaces for sharing culture and supporting healthy and connected communities. LKN’s most recent exhibition, Unearthed the Power of Gardening, engaged over 830,000 people.
Katherine also champions the role of libraries as connectors and conveners, not only contributing to the cultural ecosystems of local communities, but also as safe and accessible spaces for supporting people at every stage of their life. Katherine is currently working on extending the LKN's cultural programmes to prison libraries; with the aim of increasing collaboration across the sector, raising awareness of the role public libraries can play in supporting those leaving prison.
Victoria Barnett is a Prison Libraries Development Manager for Kent County Council and Chair of the CILIP Prison Libraries Group. She has worked in prison libraries since 2012, and took on the role of Prison Libraries Development Manager in 2018 where she manages the 5 prison libraries in Kent. These prisons are all very different establishments: an open women’s prison; an open men’s prison; a designated foreign national men’s prison; a local Category C men’s prison; and a long-term high security men’s prison. Each presents its own unique challenges, and the needs of the people in custody vary considerably across the sites. Managing services across such diverse environments has given Victoria a broad understanding of the role that libraries can play in rehabilitation, wellbeing, and access to information.
Alongside her operational role, Victoria has been an active member of the CILIP Prison Libraries Group, and was appointed Chair of the committee in 2021. The Group’s mission is to raise the profile of prison libraries, improve standards across the estate, and support the staff who deliver these essential services. In 2025, Victoria gave evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee on the value of prison libraries, and she is frequently invited to speak to organisations and professional groups interested in learning more about the impact of library services within the criminal justice system.
