Staff - Institutional Library Development

Diana Reese - Coordinator, Institutional Library Development

Diana leads the ILD team, coordinating activities of the unit, providing technical recommendations, developing standards, and advising staff. She works closely with the State Library's five state partner agencies to improve library services in their institutions and ensure residents have access to library services that support learning, literacy, and community reentry needs.

Diana was a correctional librarian and correctional libraries supervisor for 15 years before becoming the Coordinator of Institutional Library Development in 2005. Prior to her work with the incarcerated, she was a teacher librarian. The experience with information literacy and lifelong learning she gained as a school librarian still enriches and informs her work in correctional libraries.

While she never planned to work in corrections, Diana's career working with the incarcerated and the librarians who serve them has been more rewarding and fun than she could dare wish for. Every day brings a new opportunity to positively impact the life of of an institutional resident, even if indirectly. Her professional dream is to demonstrate the positive impact meaningful correctional library services have on prisoners' community reentry success.

Diana is active in American Library Association (ALA), currently serving as Past-President of ASCLA. She also served on the ALA-APA Advisory Committee to the national Library Support Staff Certification program. Her next ALA project is participating in the revision of ALA's standards for adult correctional institutions. Past ALA activities include serving as chair of the Libraries Serving Special Populations Section, chair of the Library Services to Prisoners Forum, and several terms on the ASCLA board of directors.

Diana's publications include:

"Standards in Colorado Correctional Libraries: Uniting Service and Security," Colorado Libraries v. 33 no. 1 (2007)
        Read this publication (PDF)

"Collection Development," Libraries Inside: A Practical Guide for Prison Librarians (McFarland & Co.), 1995

Diana has been awarded:

• President of ASCLA, 2010
• Chief Officers of State Library Agencies Executive Leadership Institute, August, 2007
• ASCLA Exceptional Service Award, 2007
• Outstanding Support Services Employee, Colorado Correctional Ass'n, 1995
• Outstanding Educator of the Year, Colo. Dept. of Corrections, 1995

Diane Walden - State Prison Libraries

Diane Walden has worked in corrections librarianship since 1994, as a librarian, manager and consultant. She has been at the Colorado State Library since 2004.

Diane knew she wanted to be a prison librarian from the moment she decided to go to grad school for her MLS. Professors and supervisors talked her out of it, so she focused on medical and technical librarianship…until a year after graduation, when a sudden move to Florida opened up a whole new world. As an employee of the Florida Department of Corrections, a Guardian ad Litem volunteer who represented the needs of children in the court system, and a certified literacy tutor, Diane was empowered to save the world, one reader at a time. She’s still working at it.

Diane's publications include:

"Breaking the Cycle: Prison Reading Program Encourages Literacy," Colorado Libraries, Volume 30 Number 4 Winter 2004

Prisoners’ Right to Read: An Interpretation of The Library Bill of Rights, adopted by ALA June 2010 [catalyst and co-author]

Diane has been awarded:

• Library Journal Mover & Shaker (2011)
• ASCLA Leadership & Professional Achievement Award (2011)
• Chair of American Library Association’s Library Services to Prisoners Forum, 2008-09 and 2009-10

Diane is proud to serve as Coordinator of Institutional Library Development’s Read to the Children program.

Camden Tadhg - Acquisitions & Youth Institutions

Camden Tadhg is the newest member of the Institutional Library Development (ILD) team, having started in November 2010. Camden is a consultant for libraries in youth correctional facilities, veterans’ nursing homes, and mental health institutions. He also coordinates the acquisition of new and donated materials for over 40 state-operated institutional libraries.

Except for a short stint at a copy shop, Camden has been working in libraries for most of his adult life including positions in academic acquisitions, consortial lending, and cataloging. His most recent position was as Teen Central Librarian at Hennepin County Library. Correctional librarianship has been his dream for many years. Camden is excessively enthusiastic about libraries and at-risk youth; he can’t wait to bring that enthusiasm to an institutional library near you!

Camden’s publications:

“Bending circuits and making music: Teen Tech Week in downtown Minneapolis” Young Adult Library Services 8.2 (Winter 2010): 20-22.

Eva Hallock - Correctional Libraries Senior Consultant

Eva Hallock started her correctional library career at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility in 2007. This career choice came after she served on a jury for a murder trial. Witnesses included several currently incarcerated individuals, and Eva noticed that her fellow jurors were acting afraid of them. She wanted the opportunity to work with this population, and give them a chance to be treated like regular people. She joined the Institutional Library Development team in November 2011.