Incarcerated Services Reference Letter Project
New York Public Library’s Correctional Services team provides resources to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated New Yorkers and their families. Through the reference letter program, incarcerated people can send letters to the Correctional Services team to request reference information. The Correctional Services team collaborates with students in the Pratt library science program to answer these reference requests. Learn more.
For INFO-652 Reference and Instruction, I wrote three reference letters answering questions from incarcerated people. Each reference letter was 18 pages long; in total, I answered eight questions. To answer the reference questions, I did research using library, reference database, open web, government, news, and museum sources. I cross-referenced sources for accuracy and consistency. I aimed to contextualize my answers through describing the research process for the reader, both so they understood my process and so they could perhaps do a similar search in the future. Finally, I formatted my letters so they were reader-friendly, and in relevant cases, I added images.
In this project, I located and assessed information for individual users, and researched their information contexts in order to answer their questions in an appropriate manner and format. Without a reference interview to get more information about why a patron is asking a question, I learned that answering questions remotely requires creativity in interpreting the question, as well as in finding multiple angles through which to answer it. Through writing these letters, I learned that providing reference to users requires creativity, care, and a nuanced understanding of information context.