updated. Today the challenges prison libraries face range from the accessing materials to the lack of materials, from the lack of resources and programs to having to cope with untraditional learning environments. Further, prisoners don't receive the appropriate training on the proper technology to utilize those materials and resources they have accessed. The fastest growing population in prisons is the elderly, due primarily to longer sentences and limited parole. Many facilities are overcrowded, and the incarceration rate of ethnic minorities is high, including the growing population of non- or limited English speaking inmates. Research shows that between 50 and 60 percent of prisoners and inmates did not finish high school. The ALA’s Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services (ODLOS) maintains a webpage with links that may be helpful for prison librarians, including documents, statistics, and facts about the criminal justice system. In 2021, a task force of correctional library workers and other institutional stakeholders headed by ODLOS began work on a massive reimagining of the American Library Association’s 1992 Library Standards for Adult Correctional Institutions. Historical milestones Colonial America Colonial America in the 1700s saw an expansion in printing industry, precipitating a culture shift from the idea that only the wealthy should have access to books and to education, to the premise of equitable access to education and books for all society. Earlier, in 1638, Harvard University established the first institutional library, and, over a hundred and twenty years later, in 1764, Harvard's library had an amassed 5,000 volumes of books. Boston Public Library and social responsibility Historically, the library profession's claim to neutrality has drawn a line between professional issues such as literacy and so-called non-library issues such as war, politics, segregation, and poverty. While not explicitly employing the term social responsibility, the July 1852 Report of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library makes clear that the library has two primary social obligations: To equalize and maximize individual opportunities to participate in civil society while fighting conflicting cultural, political, and social influences; and To provide the public with a means of developing a uniquely American culture, founded on the notion of an engaged citizenship. The notion of social responsibility has long been at the center of the professional ideology that grounds thought and justifies practice in librarianship. Additionally, the idea that people agree to tax themselves for the support of the public library — an institution that