Out-Sorcerer

Corrections librarian Daniel Marcou goes above and beyond the call of duty in his job at the Hennepin County Public Library System. In addition to fielding information requests from the more than 600 inmates who populate the Hennepin County Adult Corrections Facility, he also coordinates and oversees innovative programs like Read to Me, which teaches offenders about family literacy while providing books to their children. “Too often families of the incarcerated are forgotten,” Marcou says. Read to Me, winner of a National Association of Counties Award and a Marshall Cavendish Excellence in Library Programming Award, “helps to maintain the family connection, promotes reading, and encourages library use.” Another program, Freedom Ticket, which Marcou is currently promoting to Minnesota state prisons, assists ex-offenders in using their public libraries to find jobs and develop technical skills. But while Marcou's goal is to decrease recidivism by connecting residents with the resources they need to make a life for themselves on the outside, he hopes, he says, to remain at the correctional facility for “the rest of my days as a librarian.”  

Vitals Hennepin County Library, Minnetonka, MN POSITION Corrections Librarian DEGREE MLIS, Dominican University, 2004 WEB SITE danielmarcou.com