This page shares information about a presentation and discussion that I lead for this course to better understand the experiences of incarcerated people requesting information and library services, knowing that Black queer and trans people are incarcerated at disproportionately higher rates than other groups.
Click image for link to presentation slides.
I was able to ground my presentation and discussion on reference services and access in prison libraries in abolitionism and an anti-carceral analysis. My classmates seemed to appreciate this perspective in contrast to the perspective of the article’s author that centered carceral institutions over the people in them who are violently targeted by the prison industrial complex (PIC). Some classmates shared examples of information work supporting people in prison in their own regions and experiences, which shows that the movement against the PIC includes a strong call to action from librarians and information workers. Knowing that queer and trans Black people are targeted by the PIC at drastically higher rates than other groups and putting together this presentation allowed me to think more about how information organizations can center incarcerated people in work by and for queer Black folks. Queer Black communities include people facing various oppressive systems in different contexts, and it is critical that incarcerated people are at the forefront of movements for queer Black liberation.
Article Critique
Bemis, M. “You Work Where? Prison Librarian—an inside Job with Outsize Benefits. Library Journal 136. no. 7 (2011): 108.
Keywords:
Prison libraries/librarians; Law libraries/librarians; Incarcerated people/patrons; Reference services
Purpose of the article:
To describe the environment and practices of prison libraries from a prison librarian’s perspective, specifically comparing reference services for incarcerated people to the services provided in other libraries.
Theoretical/Practice-Based frameworks:
Anarcho-Blackness; Black Queer/Trans Feminism
Research approaches/methods/methodological frameworks:
Abolitionist Praxis; Radical Empathy
Strengths (significance) of the article:
The article recognizes the importance of providing legal information and material for entertainment and pleasure for incarcerated patrons. The author also does a good job of describing the physical environment of a high-level security prison library. The reader gains insight of the restrictions in place for incarcerated patrons as well.
Weaknesses (limitations) of the article:
The author’s perspective is clearly from the place of an institutional staff member, and not as an ally to the incarcerated patrons he provides services to. While he recognizes the ways certain materials can benefit his patrons at this high-level security prison library, these patrons are referred to as “offenders” throughout the article. More recent scholarship shows that humanization and compassion of all patrons, including those who are incarcerated, are key values for providing meaningful services. These values for service also respond to the ways surveillance and censorship of materials provided to incarcerated people prevents the “rehabilitation” that the Prison Industrial Complex claims as the benefit of carceral punishment
Identify ONE key takeaway in terms of INFORMATION ACTIONS for your DIVERSE POPULATION
Providing information and entertainment materials to queer and trans Black people in prison are key ways to encourage knowledge-production, political education, and personal fulfillment that centers their personal experiences and needs before, while, and after being incarcerated. These necessary materials include many of the listed restrictions described in this article, and we have much to learn from abolitionist organizations providing these resources to queer and trans and/or Black people in prison outside of prison library contexts.
From the reading, write down at least ONE outcome(s), small incremental step(s), valuable tools and strategies you might suggest for your colleagues to take back to be implemented within their libraries, archives, museums, or other work system.
Given that this article was published in 2011, it would be worthwhile for my colleagues to consider the lessons from community organizers currently working to provide information services to incarcerated people and those affected by the Prison Industrial Complex. The brief discussions in the article about the potential benefits provided to incarcerated patrons by prison librarians offer a starting point to critically reassess information services for these communities, including from those outside of prison libraries. For example, there are many locally organized “books through bars” programs that coordinate sending donated books, zines, and other materials directly to incarcerated patrons through requests and letter-writing. These programs offer valuable relationship-building opportunities with incarcerated people seeking support, as well as the information or entertainment materials that benefit people in prison as they either prepare for eventual release or care for themselves during a life-term sentence.
Important references in relation to student’s areas of interest (course project):
Given that Black trans feminism values pleasure and recognition of knowledge production by and for Black queer people, this author’s brief mentions of providing incarcerated patrons access to materials for leisure offer a start to talking about offering better reference services in prisons (Ajamu, et. al., 2020; Richardson, et. al., 2022; Smith, 2021). Though the author agrees with the described needs for restriction/censorship in his library, recent work done by community organizers supporting incarcerated people, such as Midwest Books to Prisoners, affirms the importance of open access especially for these communities. The restrictions that the author lists are of key importance in access to all incarcerated people from the perspective of those working towards abolition and non-carceral accountability, and particularly for Black queer people in prisons.
Ideas and relationship of article to student’s areas of interest (course project):
Given that queer people are overrepresented across all U.S. carceral institutions, and that Black transgender people are disproportionately affected by the carceral system, this article is of particular interest for my focus on Black queer people (Prison Policy Initiative, 2021; National Center for Transgender Equality, 2018). Black trans people and youth are at most risk of incarceration or policing, and information services for these groups inside prisons should be considered by information and library workers, including those outside of prison libraries. Advocacy organizations have begun putting together resources about how to best provide information services to incarcerated queer youth, but valuable lessons are to be learned from community organizers focusing on supporting Black queer people in prison in similar ways.
Works Cited
Ajamu, McFarlane, C., & Cummings, R. (2020). Promiscuous Archiving: Notes on the Joys of Curating Black Queer Legacies. Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études Canadiennes, 54(2), 585–615.
Initiative, P. P. (March 2021). Visualizing the unequal treatment of LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system. Retrieved June 19, 2023, from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2021/03/02/lgbtq/
National Center for Transgender Equality (2018). LGBTQ People Behind Bars: A Guide to Understanding the Issues Facing Transgender Prisoners and their Legal Rights.
Richardson, M., Brown, E., Cotten, T., Gossett, C., Ridley, L., & Snorton, C. R. (2022). Between Inconceivable and Criminal: Black Trans Feminism and the History of the Present. Feminist Studies, 48(3), 807–823.
Smith, A. (2021). Being in the Black Queer Diaspora: Embodied Archives in A Map to the Door of No Return. Journal of Feminist Scholarship, 19(19), 92–106.