LISNews: Librarian News

Self-help books, best-sellers, graphic novels and history -- these are among the popular books with inmates at the King County Jail.

But beginning in January, it won't be a librarian making the deliveries. Instead inmates, working under the supervision of a corrections officer, will be handing out the books.

The county's Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention will save about $240,000 annually by ending its contract with the King County Library System, which historically has provided librarians and a collection of books for the jail's inmates.

"It wasn't an efficient use of their money," said Nancy Smith, director of outreach services for the library system. Seattle P.I. reports.