Partnering Organizations
These are some of the many organizations that help support our projects.

UC IMC
Urbana / Champaign Illinois independent Media Center is our parent organization. Our book collection and sorting / packing facility is located in the IMC building at 202 S. Broadway in Urbana Illinois. As an arm of UC IMC, Books to Prisoners benefits from its 501.C.3 Not For Profit status.
University of Illinois Graduate School of Information Sciences
Library Science students often find that volunteering with UC Books to Prisoners is a natural fit with their educational objectives as well as a rewarding experience. UC Books to Prisoners has worked with students and their advisors to design practicums and regularly invite iSchool students to volunteer in groups.
Champaign County Sheriff's Office
UC Books to Prisoners provides books and library services to the incarcerated people in our county jail. These services include our volunteers staffing the jail library weekly as well as channeling books which are donated by our community into the jail to stock the library shelves.
Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District
CUMTD has been a sponsor of our organization for years, promoting our book-sale fundraisers on buses.
Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign has contributed in generous donations and partner with us supplying volunteers.
RSVP - Retired & Senior Volunteer Program
Champaign Urbana's RSVP Chapter includes several of UC Books to Prisoners' most active volunteers.
With thier members v olunteering several times per week all year-round RSVP Books to Prisoners members contribute some of the highest numbers of volunteer hours of an organization in our community.

Helen Mary Stevick Senior Citizens Center, 48 Main St Champaign IL (217) 359-6500.



Other Books to Prisoners Groups
There are several organizations throughut the United States which serve a similar purpose as UC Books to Prisoners, some of which have been operating for more than twenty years. Use this off-site resource maintained by the Prison Book Program based in Quincy, MA.


Sending Materials into Jails and Prisons
Most state prisons have a centralized book distribution system where it is the role of the supervising librarian to receive book donations, decide if they meet prison standards, and then mail them out to prison libraries.

This is ideal if the supervising librarian is enthusiastic about distributing the books, because her/his opinion about the book's value overrides that of regular prison librarians. However, if the supervising librarian does not wish to distribute the book, one has the option of contacting each prison individually. This is also an option for states that don't appear to have supervising librarians.