Liberation Library is a volunteer-run abolitionist organization that sends books to young people in Illinois prisons and jails.
Liberation Library provides books to youth in prison to encourage imagination, self-determination, and connection to outside worlds of their choosing. They believe access to books is a right, not a privilege, and that books and relationships empower young people to change the criminal legal system.
Liberation Library was founded in February 2015 by Project Nia, and now operates as an independent project fiscally sponsored by the Chicago Freedom School. Liberation Library's decision-making body is a non-hierarchical and multiracial volunteer steering committee. They provide books to young readers in all of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice facilities, and work with jails in multiple counties in Illinois.
Liberation Library believes strongly that readers should have a voice and a choice in the books that they receive. Their readers hand in order forms that volunteers fill at twice-monthly packing days. Readers provide their top three choices and general interests so that the organization can get supply a book of their choosing, or something similar.
Once the book is selected, volunteers write personalized notes to each reader, and the books that the young people receive are theirs to keep. The Liberation Library model encourages readers to have choice and ownership in a world where they are often devoid of both.
Liberation Library produces an annual catalog for readers to share some of the new and popular books that they keep in their inventory, though they welcome new requests from readers. Individuals can donate funds to Liberation Library to go towards stocking their shelves and shipping costs. They can also donate directly to local partner bookstores to replenish book-buying funds at each store.
Source: Liberation Library