Nearly two million people are incarcerated in the United States, the majority of whom have little or no access to library services and the information they need. The denial or lack of these resources has compounding effects on individuals, their friends and families, and our shared communities.

Researchers and practitioners across the United States are responding to this information need by building foundational resources to support the creation or expansion of library services for people who are negatively impacted by incarceration. This presentation highlights several recent research initiatives that illustrate the impact of providing library services for incarcerated people and their loved ones, including:

● The Expanding Information Access for Incarcerated People initiative, based at San Francisco Public Library, provides a broad overview of library services and incarceration.

● The PRISM Project (Are PRISon Libraries Motivators of Prosocial Behavior and Successful Re-entry?), based at the Colorado State Library, which centers the voices of incarcerated and system-impacted people to identify the outcomes and impacts associated with institutional libraries;

● The e Library Services and Incarceration Survey, a longitudinal study that reflects the experiences of library workers, including their desire to do this work, and the barriers they encounter along the way.

● A case study at a rural county jail which demonstrates the importance of documenting and showcasing library services to incarcerated and system-impacted people, towards the ends of winning institutional and community support and funding.

Each speaker will offer an overview of their work, with the presentations followed by a 15 minute Q & A.

Speaker Bios:

Jeanie Austin (they/them) is an Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University. Austin studies the intersections of information access and incarceration, with attention to the social and political constructs that surround incarceration and reentry. Their work explores the interplay of information access and control in relation to the public, state actors, and technology companies, with a focus on library and information services.

Austin is principal investigator of the Expanding Information Access for Incarcerated People initiative, based at San Francisco Public Library. The nationwide, six-year project is funded by the Mellon Foundation and conducted in collaboration with the American Library Association.

Chelsea Jordan-Makely (she/her) is a librarian, doctoral student, and adjunct faculty at Simmons University. Her work and research focuses on improving accessibility and the patron experience, libraries as bureaucracies, and the interconnectivity and collaborative frictions between libraries and other cultural and state institutions, such as jails and prisons.

Charissa Brammer (she/her) is a librarian and researcher, currently working as the Director of the Library Research Service at the Colorado State Library. She is interested in the ways in which libraries of all kinds impact the lives of the people who use them and our communities. Recent work includes the PRISM Project, which sought to learn more about state-funded prison libraries in Colorado and how they impact people who are currently and were formerly incarcerated.