CLIS Home > News >


Glennor Shirley honored as 2008 James Partridge Award Recipient

Ms. Glennor Shirley is the Library Coordinator for the Maryland State Department of Education, Correctional Education Libraries. She is the Former Manager, Randallstown Branch of Baltimore County Library and East Columbia Branch, Howard County Library. She works with the Bookmobile as a Librarian, and works in her home country of Jamaica in the Library Service, as a Special Librarian, and for the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation.

In 2002, she created Discovering the Internet @ Your Library a CD ROM to teach inmates, who have no access to computers how to use the Internet and they return to their communities with more knowledge of how to access information. This is now used across the country by correction libraries as well as libraries and organizations that work with at-risk youths. The CD ROM was copyrighted to the Maryland State Department of Education and nationwide, prison program providers request this one of a kind tutorial. In 2003 Glennor received The Al Maresh Award for excellence in computer-assisted technology for the CD ROM.

In 2003, she was responsible for the creation of a website that would help prison librarians find information easily since they work as one person managers. This website was created as an online version of a Directory of Prison Librarians, the only directory of this kind. She also initiated the program Family Literacy @ Your Library in 2003 at the Maryland House of Corrections. This encourages inmates and caregivers to read with and to their children.

Ms. Shirley received one of Library Journal’s MOVERS & SHAKERS Awards in 2003 for this CD ROM and also earned the Correctional Education Association’s AL Maresh Technology Award.

In 2007, Ms. Shirley contributed a chapter to the publication: A Day In The Life: Career Options In the Library And Information Sciences, edited by Priscilla Shontz and Richard Murray and published by Libraries Unlimited. Proudest of all is the recent acquisition of 2 mobile units that will go to prerelease institutions. This is the first endeavor of its kind in the country and it will have all the information that will assist the inmates in transitioning back to their community. Her newest venture is in the world of blogging as a prison librarian and as a foreign librarian. She also initiated the development of a website for the MD Correctional Education Libraries. http://ce.msde.state.md.us/library/libraries.htm

While Ms. Shirley is a published author of many journal articles, she also spearheaded the publication of the online Directory of State Prison Librarians available on the Maryland Correctional Education Libraries website.

She got her B.A. at the University of the West Indies; her M.A.S. at Johns Hopkins University; and her M.L.S. University of Maryland.

Ms. Shirley has been involved in many organizations over her career including the chair of the Maryland Library Association- Maryland Library Leadership Task Force, the Editor of The Citizen, the newsletter for the Citizens for Maryland Libraries. She is also the incoming chair of the Prisoners Forum, ASCLA, and LSSPS.

Congratulations Glennor, 2008 James Partridge Award Recipient!