Library Internship, Spring 2025

 PLSN Reference By Mail: An Introduction

Agenda

What is Reference?

"Traditional library reference services assume patrons have basic freedoms—the ability to check out books or to access the internet. This isn’t the case for prison reference, where answering even simple questions can become surprisingly complex, especially when responses must also meet prison surveillance requirements for length and content."          -Kelley, 2025

For Consideration:

every reference engagement implies or even enforces a power relation between the information worker and patron. 

“information access is wielded as a disciplinary tool against people who are incarcerated. Knowing that, we work to meet their needs despite the surveillance and restrictions they face.”

-Kelley, 2025

You are an information worker if you can:

Answering Reference by Mail

• Many letters will have multiple questions, you only need to answer 3 (though you can answer more if you'd like)
• PLSN has a 50 pg. limit, for printing however you should only take as many pages as you need 
• PLSN can print in color; however if you have specific image/printing requirements reach out to Christina 

General Guidelines for Answering a Reference Letter

• Legal and Medical advice. (We can include legal resources, e.g., printouts of case law, but we cannot give our legal opinion.)
• Entire Books & Magazines
• Personal/private information about living individuals, especially contact information. (e.g., the office address of a former healthcare provider is okay because of the professional context, but a phone number for a friend from Whitepages is not.)
• Anything related to or created by fascist or white supremacist organizations.
• Any information that is against a facility’s policy. This typically includes sexual content, gang-related information, and information on potentially illegal activities.

What we can't support

Let's review some letters

• Consider using the provided letter templates and email your response with any attachments to Christina and she will email your materials to plsn_nyc@protonmail.com. 

• If you use a template, please include all forms and attachments needed to complete the letter.

• Ideally, the letter and printouts are compiled together in a PDF format with page numbers, but if this is not possible for you, please send it as-is. 

Submitting Your Response

• Defer to any font request outlined in the letter
• If there are no requests, consider reducing page count, we recommend doing a print-to-PDF at a 2:1 or 4:1 print ratio. (Be mindful that not all patrons are able to read small print, so please defer to any font size preferences requested by the patron.)

• To make a webpage more print-friendly, including removing or shrinking images and text, we recommend Print Friendly.

• We recommend TinyWow to edit, merge, and add page numbers to PDFs. They also have a large number of other formatting tools.

Tips on Formatting

• PLSN Reference Wiki 
• Christina and other librarians
• Digital and physical resources available through Swarthmore Libraries 
• Resources beyond Swarthmore  
• Consider going through a PLSN RBM training, attend The Accountability Working Group

Resources

• Select a Letter in class (will be sent to Christina who will forward it to your group)
• Consult with your partner on how you will approach answering the letter
• Carry out the requisite research (remember to make use of the information resources at your disposal as needed).
• Set up a meeting and meet with Christina to check in regarding your progress
• Use an appropriate PLSN template to compose your response and compile everything into a pdf with page numbers.
• Email your final pdf to Christina
• Complete the Process and Reflection Assignment and submit it to Moodle
• Informal Debrief during following internship session

For Review: Steps for Answering a Question

Questions?

Works Cited

"Definitions of Reference", American Library Association, September 29, 2008

​https://www.ala.org/rusa/guidelines/definitionsreference (Accessed January 31, 2025)

Document ID: fc2be2da-6283-4887-9552-c685fcbc2247

Kelley, Claire. "Prison Library Support Network Volunteers Meet Incarcerated Information Needs with Grassroots Reference by Mail Service."Library Journal, January 31, 2025 <https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/news/prison-library-support-network-volunteers-meet-incarcerated-information-needs-with-grassroots-reference-by-mail-service?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_OROU9KAd32POcogAIDPhdtIHAWABydp2NFjdxh_bDafV2hjaebD2Ud_8T_n3jjs1oDiE3eqZ7oaS6yQPALm1xQVhj-Q&_hsmi=344987486&utm_content=344987486&utm_source=hs_email>