Feature
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I AUGUST 2018 39
BY JENNA BAGCAL
For the past year and a half, Nili Ness has been
working as Queens Library’s first and only correc-tional
services librarian, a role which has allowed
her to serve Rikers Island inmates.
Three times a week, Ness visits Rikers ready to
hand deliver carts full of books and other reading
materials to the eagerly waiting individuals at the
Queens prison complex.
Ness became inspired to work as a librarian
after substituting for one at Hunter College High
School for a semester. Following that experience,
she applied to Queens College’s Graduate School
of Library and Information Studies and explored
the topic of services to incarcerated youth. From
there she said she became drawn to learning about
underserved populations and served as a part-time
correctional services assistant, which eventually led
her to her current role.
When she first started in the role, she said there
was a “big learning curve” since she had to hand
write everything instead of using technology to
do things like keep track of the books and take
requests from inmates.
Her role as correctional services librarian was
created thanks to a grant from the New York City
Council, which allowed the Queens Library to ex-tend
their services to Riker’s Island. In 2016, the
NYC Council issued a $600,000 grant to the three
New York City library systems to expand the Video
Visitation program.
The librarian said that the program was created by
former NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito
and Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and operates
in 22 libraries across the five boroughs.
Ness said that the video visitations do not re-place
the traditional in-person visits, but rather act
as a supplement. She added that travel to Rikers
is sometimes difficult and can often take family
members an entire day to get there.
Other money from the NYC Council grant went
to funding the Rolling Library that Ness operates.
For those who may not have families to visit them
or communicate with, Ness said that the books are
their escape.
Ness serves inmates in the Anna M. Kross Cen-ter
(AMKC) and Otis Bantum Correctional Center
(OBCC) within the complex. She serves 16 general
population houses at Otis Bantum, which hold about
40 to 50 inmates per house. At Anna M. Kross, Ness
visits 16 male-only houses with about 31 men per
house, as well as a newer unit for veterans that
house about 20 individuals.
She added that there may be plans in the works
to open a standing library at the Otis Bantum Cor-rectional
Center, which both the Queens Library
and Brooklyn Public Library would share.
“Authors like Patterson are definitely popular,
but urban fiction, like K’wan, is also in demand,” she
said. “Some people like physics books, so you can
put Stephen Hawkins and Richard Feynman and
people will pick it up and want to read it. I also try
to bring specific books if there are any requests. For
example, I had one man who was hard of hearing
and he really wanted books on sign language and
I was able to bring him some.”
But Ness said that there are still large portions of
Riker’s that do not receive any books or educational
materials due to a lack of staffing and logistical
challenges, including lack of elevators to transport
her book cart to different floors.
“It’s hard to see that people still don’t get access,”
said Ness. “When you work at Rikers Island, you
realize how large the need is. Even with all three
public library systems involved, there are still large
areas of the jail complex that don’t receive any type
of library service, outside of perhaps, access to
the law library. There are still plenty of people who
have no meaningful access to materials to enrich
their inner lives.”
In addition to the Rolling Library and Video
Visitation programs, Ness also conducts outreach
toward inmate’s reentry into society, which involves
putting together a “Queens reentry guide” filled
with library-offered resources and lists of other
Queens-based organizations that offer free or
low-cost services.
“I want people to know that it’s not out of sight out
of mind,” said Ness about the people she serves at
Rikers. “I believe in the power of reading and what
it can do in someone’s life.”
Photo courtesy of Lippman Commission report
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