Interlibrary loan (ILL) service makes it possible for library patrons to access materials from libraries across the state by placing requests for materials not found in their own library’s collection. It exponentially increases the amount of materials that people everywhere in Colorado can borrow, making it a vital service for growing equitable access to stories and information.
In the Public Library Annual Report (PLAR) we ask libraries to report how many interlibrary loans (ILLs) they both provided to other libraries and received from other libraries. In 2022 and 2023 public libraries reported receiving more ILL’s than they provided, but in 2024, public libraries reported providing slightly more ILLs than they received. The number of ILLs public libraries provide can differ from the number they receive because ILLs can be exchanged between different types of libraries. For example, academic libraries may lend materials of their choosing to public libraries or public libraries may do the same for institutional libraries. In fact, recent data shows that there were almost ten times more ILL requests per capita in Colorado state prison libraries than Colorado public libraries.
This post will highlight the latest data gathered on ILL in prison libraries. While this service is popular with prison library users, it is less well-known outside of prison libraries that this service is provided to people who are incarcerated. Much of the data we have to share is qualitative and was gathered while conducting focus groups for the PRISM study. Prison library staff also report monthly whether ILL was available at their facility and how many requests were received.
Colorado’s Prison Libraries
Every state-funded prison in Colorado has a library, but their collections vary in size from under 4,000 items to over 14,000 items. In comparison, there are over 45,000 physical items at the average public library location and an entire Colorado public library system contains over 100,000 physical items on average, which still excludes electronic items. Prison libraries are unable to provide the same breadth of choices, so it’s clear why ILL is a more popular service in these settings. When hearing what incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people have to say about ILL service, it quickly became clear that this collaboration between libraries changes lives.
All of the 21 state-funded prison libraries in Colorado offered ILLs for at least part of the last fiscal year (July 2024-June 2025), and a total of 25,711 ILL requests for materials were received. Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility, in Ordway, Colorado, received the most ILL requests at 5,949, almost a quarter of total requests. In eight of these prison libraries ILL was unavailable for part of the year, which could have been due to staffing issues. Interruptions in ILL service were a source of frustration that we heard about from many focus group participants while conducting the PRISM study. But we also heard a lot about the positive impact of ILLs when people’s requests were filled.
The following data was gathered through the 54 focus groups LRS conducted with currently incarcerated people and eight focus groups conducted with formerly incarcerated people by Carol Peeples, the Founder and Executive Director of Remerg. Although questions about ILL service were not a planned part of our focus groups, the topic was raised by participants in three out of every four focus groups conducted with people currently incarcerated and every focus group conducted with people who were formerly incarcerated. This highlights just how essential this service is. All of the quotes throughout the rest of this post (indicated with quotation marks or indented as block quotes) come directly from PRISM study focus group participants. The complete findings from the PRISM project, including outcomes of prison library use, discussion of the many library services that have an impact, and suggestions for improvement will soon be available on lrs.org.
Increasing Access has Obstacles
The expanded access that ILL service provides makes a difference for people who enjoy all different types of materials. For example, nonfiction readers could request and receive materials on subjects that they could not otherwise find in their prison library:
So, yeah, I used the library. I would use it mostly for things that I wanted to learn about that I was interested in like building sheds, raising chickens, all kinds of stuff, stuff that people there don’t know about. So I would do interlibrary loans mostly, just because the libraries are smaller, but the interlibrary loan at the last prison I was at did really well.
We also heard of people receiving music through ILL, and fiction readers reported instances when a book was missing from a series, but they were able to receive it through an ILL request, so they didn’t have to miss part of the story.
They didn’t have that anywhere else that I’ve been, where we can put in requests for holds and ILLs are a huge thing that they didn’t have where I’ve been incarcerated before down in Texas. So I really like that it’s an interactive and connected library system to every library in Colorado. I’ve gotten books from Aurora City Library and stuff like that, and that’s never been an option before where I’ve been. So it’s great. Like she said, because there’s a lot of series that are broken up because most of our books are donated from other girls, and so the fact that we can still continue those is great.
Speaker 3: I don’t know if it’s been rein- I haven’t heard it’s been reinstated. We didn’t have a set librarian, I think, for a little while, so, they couldn’t run the inter-library loan program. I don’t know. I haven’t heard that it’s back in place, but to me that was really valuable, because sometimes-
Speaker 2: It’s an asset because if the book that you’re not looking for… Or if you’re looking for a book in here and it’s not in here, you can go to the inter-library and find one.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: That’s definitely a bonus. I’ve used it.
Speaker 3: You’ve got sequels and you just don’t carry the sequel in here and you want to continue reading.
The two participants talking here agree that the ILL system has been helpful, but this interaction also points to questions about ILL that were repeated by multiple participants who often didn’t know if ILL was currently available at their facility. Sometimes our focus groups sparked a conversation between participants where they answered each others’ questions about ILL:
Speaker 3: One program I think that should be done is, I don’t know if you guys do this, we probably do, but I don’t know. But it is, so when books are [at] other facilities, whether it’s the men’s facility or say the one in the women’s prison in Pueblo, I feel like we should be able to trade books.
Speaker 7: We do. We have that program.
Speaker 3: Oh, we do?
Speaker 7: It’s called the interlibrary loan. They have forms. You just fill it out saying that you want this book. If you don’t know the title of it or you know an author, you could do that or if there’s a specific book, you can do that. And it goes from not only the prisons, but also other public libraries. And then they’ll send it here and then when you’re done, it goes right back to them.
It is possible that confusion about ILL was so prevalent because there’s quite a bit of inconsistency between facilities regarding ILL service. We were also conducting our focus groups in 2023 when some programs had still not been reinstated since COVID-19 restricted services.
. . . at [Facility A], they wouldn’t even do interlibrary loans for us. They said it was because of COVID, this and that, but as soon as I got to [Facility B], it was on and going. So I don’t know what the difference between [Facilities A and B] was. [Facility A] just won’t get you interlibrary loans. They just won’t do it. So I don’t know.
But restrictions on ILLs go beyond COVID-19 limitations. The process of placing ILLs in prison may look different and take longer due to restrictions on technology access. Some of these factors were recognized and discussed by participants, who even tried to brainstorm how the system could be improved:
I think they could improve the ILL search to allow us to go back to being able to… Because we have to give a slip to [the librarian]. If she has a stack, she has to do it individually, whereas if you could look it up yourself, you could write that information down, and it would be that much more quicker for her. Instead of her having to research it, it’s already been done. You’ve got the ISBN number or the Dewey Decimal System number in there, the name of the author. So then she could just go ahead and put it into the engine and have it ordered. But the way they’re doing it now, you fill out the paper, give it to her, and she has to actually search for the book for you in order to find it. That would be the one thing I would try to improve, have that system come back.
After ILL requests were placed, there were still challenges to the process. We heard that it could take weeks to receive the materials, there were limitations on the amount of ILLs a person could get, and sometimes people thought the borrowing time period was too short.
Even though people ran into trials receiving ILLs, and it wasn’t always available in certain facilities, ILL was only discussed either in the context of how positive it was or wishing that it could be better, never as an unnecessary service in prison.
Impacts of ILL
In some cases, the ability to receive ILLs was the service that kept people coming back to the library. Because they felt the collection in their facility fell short, one participant stated, “I don’t really read that many books here. I usually just get ILLs.”
So what were the lasting impacts of receiving ILLs, and what kept people placing ILL requests even when they ran into the challenges discussed above? Beyond increased access to materials, two unique outcomes of ILL service were identified during focus groups.
Staying Connected
One of the many reported benefits of receiving ILLs in prison is that they helped people feel more connected to the outside world:
I like other aspects of the library offered such as the ILL programs, which is really cool, because now it’s statewide. When I first became incarcerated, we didn’t have… the ILL was only confined to the prison, and now we can reach out to all the public libraries in Colorado, so that helps. It helps connect you to the outside world.
They let us get ILLs in and get new movies, new releases kind of keeps you up to date on what’s going on out there in society because without it, without ILLs, and movies and stuff, we’re like, behind technology. We’re super behind. We don’t know half the stuff that’s going on in the world.
Feeling connected to and learning about the world outside of prison can help people plan for a future after incarceration. As described above, people who have been incarcerated for a while can fall behind in technology skills. Accessing any materials that help prepare people for what they are returning to after release can help ease the transition.
Improved Mental Health
Staying connected can also have positive mental health benefits, and people also reported that having options, which ILL provides, can improve one’s mental state. For example, when asked how their library serves them well, one participant explained the ILL service then stated, “So, I think that’s a great service. And I think just the environment of an option in order to just get some pressure off of our mind and emotionally, some type of good emotions. I think it serves its greatest purpose.”
Another participant said that they have observed a positive shift in people when they use the library and emphasized ILLs when explaining the process: “And then you hear about the ILL program, whatever, and then you go through that and then it just keeps digging deeper and deeper. It gives them a niche in life. So yeah, it changes a few people.” The greater the variety of materials people have access to through ILL the more people can find the stories or topics that really speak to them and cultivate this feeling of purpose that can stem from having a “niche in life.”
A Top Priority
The ability to access information on topics that can help people with reentry into a community after release, or develop their interests and maintain their mental health, can transform lives. Only around 6% of all people in the Colorado state prison system have life without parole, meaning that the vast majority will return to communities outside of prison.
So what should be the top priority for improving prison libraries? We asked participants this question to wrap up our focus groups, and in one focus group, multiple participants agreed that ILL was top of the list. Responding:
Speaker 6: Materials.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The ILL Program and all that . . .
Speaker 3: ILL is the biggest thing for me.
Speaker 4: Yeah
It was clear that people wanted a wider variety of materials, and this is what ILL provides. Of course, we heard about a huge variety of services and access-related issues that people listed as top priorities for improvement during focus groups, but the importance of keeping ILL running in prison libraries cannot be overlooked.
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