Chabad at Oberlin College Student Group is hosting “People of the Book Project: Bringing Books into Prison” through Sunday, Dec. 2. The group is seeking gently used books that will then be donated to libraries in the Lorain County correctional system. Rabbi Shlomo and Devorah Elkan, co-directors of Chabad at Oberlin, are leading the collection. Shlomo Elkan, who does volunteer work in the Lorain County prison system, is familiar with the obstacles incarcerated individuals face when trying to obtain books — some spending months on waitlists in the process.

“It dawned on me that there are people who could use help locally, and every student has two or three books that they aren’t using sitting on their desks,” Elkan said. The prisons in Lorain County usually receive 10 to 15 new books per week. Elkan hopes to collect hundreds of books in the one-week span.