Expanding Services Together: Learning and Modeling Library Services for People Negatively Impacted by Incarceration
San Francisco Public Library’s Jail and Reentry Services department welcomes applications to join an early career cohort of co-learners focused on developing professional skills and advocacy related to library services for currently and formerly incarcerated people.
Purpose of the cohort
Members of the cohort will share perspectives, offer professional support, and collectively strategize to create or increase library services for people who are or have been incarcerated.
The cohort is like an intensive library and information science course, and cohort members are invited to create proposals for services over the three-month cohort period. Cohort members will meet virtually six times between mid-August and November 2025 and will engage in small-group discussion and collaborations throughout that time.
Focus areas
- Reviewing models of library services
- Responding to information needs created by incarceration
- Responding to information needs created by reentry
- Creating cultural- and gender-responsive services
- Locating community resources
- Supporting digital literacy
All sessions will feature guests who have been impacted by incarceration, including formerly incarcerated people, information providers, and advocates.
The first cohort will take place in the fall of 2025, followed by a second cohort in 2026. Cohorts will be composed of approximately 20 to 30 members.
Eligibility
Cohorts are intended to be professional development spaces for early career librarians and information professionals.
Applicants should be one of the following:
- In the first three years of their library or information career OR
- In the first three years of providing library services specifically for people negatively impacted by incarceration OR
- current LIS students OR
- have a documented history of providing information to incarcerated people in community-based settings (please briefly describe this experience in response to question 14 in the linked survey.)
Applicants can be:
- Working or planning to work in academic, public, or prison libraries (or other relevant area of librarianship)
- Developing or planning to develop services for people in the process of reentry
- Providing library programs and services that they would like to tailor to better support people negatively impacted by incarceration
- LIS students with a demonstrated interest in services to people who are negatively impacted by incarceration
- Advocates or activists involved in projects providing information to incarcerated people
- Future or early-career LIS educators
Applicants with lived experience of incarceration, including the incarceration of a loved one, are encouraged to apply.
Cohort participant stipend
Each selected cohort member will receive a $2,000 stipend for their participation. Payments for the 2025 cohort will be issued in late fall of 2025, upon completion of the program.
More details, including additional requirements to receive payment, will be provided to individuals invited to submit a full application. Cohort members are not required to accept compensation in order to participate.
Application timeline
- Preliminary survey opens: January 28, 2025
- Preliminary survey deadline: February 28, 2025, 5:00 PM Pacific Time
- Invitation for full application: March 18, 2025
- Deadline for full application: April 15, 2025, 5:00PM Pacific Time
- Application Notification: mid-May 2025
Application process
Applying for the 2025 cohort is a two-step process. To be invited to submit a full application, please complete the short preliminary survey (estimated time to complete is less than 10 minutes) by February 28, 2025, 5:00PM PT.
Click here to preview the survey questions.
Expectations of cohort members
Cohort members are expected to commit to:
- six two-hour virtual meetings over the course of three months (most likely on weekends)
- approximately one hour per week in asynchronous communication (phone calls, email, or other means) with other cohort members
- approximately five hours of assigned asynchronous activities (including reading, listening, and watching assigned materials and drafting proposals or similar materials) every two weeks
Cohort members are encouraged to attend the in-person June 2025 convening of librarians and information professionals who work with incarcerated people and people in the process of reentry. This convening will take place in Philadelphia, PA in coordination with the ALA Annual Conference. Details on what financial support is available to attend the convenings will be included with notice of acceptance.
Please email jailandreentryservices@sfpl.org with any questions or other feedback.