Alcatraz Library, Prison library in Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, US.

The Alcatraz Library occupied the end of D-Block in the federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island. It ran on a closed-stack paging system: inmates chose titles from a catalogue and a librarian brought the books to their cells. Its 10,000 to 15,000 volumes were largely left over from the island's army days, and a separate law library was later added in A-Block.

The library opened when the prison began operating in 1934 and was part of the facility from the start. It closed in 1963 when Alcatraz stopped functioning as a federal penitentiary.

Inmates ordered books by dropping a slip with their library card into a box at the dining hall entrance before breakfast, and a librarian carried the order to and from the cell. A chaplain ran the library and censored crime and violence from every book and magazine; newspapers were banned. A sign there today quotes the 1960 Federal Bureau of Prisons booklet: "These men read more serious literature than does the ordinary person in the community. Philosophers such as Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, etc. are especially popular."

The library occupied the end of D-Block, and a law library was later added in A-Block, so look for two separate book rooms on the cellhouse tour. Inmates ordered titles by dropping a card in a box at the dining hall entrance before breakfast, and a librarian carried the books to their cells.

The library sign today quotes a 1960 Federal Bureau of Prisons booklet: "These men read more serious literature than does the ordinary person in the community. Philosophers such as Kant, Schopenhauer, Hegel, etc. are especially popular." Inmates could hold three books plus up to 12 textbooks, a Bible and a dictionary.