Evolution of research on prison library: A bibliometric study

Abstract

The primary objective of the article is to present the historical evolution and current state of research in the field of prison libraries: what has been published, when, where, how and by whom it was published, the topic covered, etc. The study is based on the results obtained from the bibliographic databases LISA (ProQuest) and LISTA (EBSCO Publishing) up to early 2023. Entries were manually checked for irrelevant publications, and filters and specific tools, such as OpenRefine, followed by a final manual check, were used to remove duplicate entries. The same mechanisms were used for detecting duplicated entries regarding author, country, journal title, topic, etc. The analysis shows a prevailing publication profile of scarce scientific relevance, with a predominance of the description and the speculation rather than empirical statements. To overcome these limitations, it is proposed the use of scientific methods and techniques that enhance the rigour of results; to progress from the simple description of services, programs, activities, collaborations, etc., to an evaluation of them; and to work with other professionals, both from the library sector and from other disciplines.