Kristi from San Quentin Library Friends on prison libraries + community volunteering
Kristi is a community volunteer, MLIS student at San Jose State University and founder of the Friends of the San Quentin Library (FoSQL). She has a background in activism, and has worked in radical book stores for over a decade. She also volunteers at the Berkeley Friends of the Library.
MA: When and how did the Friends of the San Quentin Library begin?
K: Through my volunteer work at the Berkeley Friends of the Library I met Gabriel [Librarian at San Quentin] in 2019 when he was getting extra books for the San Quentin Library at the Berkeley Friends store. I was working on a paper for library school about prison access to information issues and ended up interviewing him about the San Quentin Library. He invited me to come visit the library and we started collaborating on a few things. (I kept bugging him about how I could help out.)
Eventually, I had the idea that maybe we could try the "Friends of the Library" model for the prison library. We began by discussing this and reaching out to other organizations within the prison. We launched Friends of the San Quentin Library (FoSQL) at the end of February 2022.
MA: You typically see Friends groups supporting public libraries. Why did you choose this model for San Quentin?
K: I think the Friends model is a great way for communities to support people who are incarcerated. Through the Friends model, we can redistribute resources to a worthy recipient: prison libraries. Everyone deserves access to good books and to information resources that libraries can provide.
MA: How do libraries serve incarcerated people?
K: Prison libraries are important since there is very limited access to technology in prisons. To find information or research a topic, there really is no "googling it".
Also, prison libraries are required to have law libraries so that incarcerated people can do research on their cases and advocate for themselves. The recreational libraries provide access to non-fiction research materials, self help or self education materials, as well as leisure reading. Reading can be therapeutic and rehabilitative yet prison libraries are underfunded and not well stocked.
MA: Access to good books and information resources in prisons is super important - what about programming? I noticed the San Quentin Library recently launched a needlepoint crafting program. How did that come about, and did FoSQL assist with launching that?
K: The needlepoint group was the idea of Charlotte Sanders who is a librarian at San Quentin. FoSQL helps buy materials for the program and we created a supplies wish list for it. Pretty quickly after the program started, Francesca Bell who is the current Marin Poet Laureate, came to San Quentin and she ended up helping to expand the needlepoint program to also include embroidery. Francesca is working on launching a knitting program as well.
Programs have been expanding at the San Quentin Library at least partly because FoSQL works to financially support them and get any materials they need. Also, we have monthly meetings with the librarians and resident library staff and it's been a great place for everyone to generate ideas and collaborate on programs. Specifically thinking of The Kids Book Fair, which has a big impact - often guys express their thanks in person during the event.
MA: Can you share more about the Kids Book Fair?
K: The Kids Book Fair for Incarcerated Parents started thanks to a large donation of really nice kids books and the idea of one of our San Quentin resident advisory board members named Kai Bannon. The San Quentin Library hosts a book fair where parents and grandparents, uncles, and residents can come by the library and pick out up to 3 books to send to the kids in their lives. All the kids' books are supplied through supporters buying books off our wish lists, our bookstore partners donating books or doing book drives for us, as well as from local Friends of the Library groups and community members donating barely used books.
We hold this family literacy event twice a year; once for the holidays and once in early June using a summer reading theme. In addition to the books, we provide cards and stickers for residents to send to their families and we provide the mailing for the book packages. The resident library staff basically runs the book fair by handling all the details and labor.
The library is packed during these events and it is very social and fun. We bring in community members and outside librarians to help everyone pick out books and it's just really a community event.
We usually send out about 300 packages. Incarcerated folks can rarely ever send gifts to family unless there is a program providing that for them as there is very limited internet access, no credit cards, or other ways to buy things, so it is really impactful that there is another avenue to be involved with their kids or grand-kids.
MA: How do library patrons say they feel after attending a program or picking up a book they enjoyed from SQL?
K: I think it would be best to ask the guys in person, but, I think that SQ residents who work at the library, regular library patrons, and those who stop in just for the Kids Book Fair are happy to have more resources available. There is often a scarcity mentality in prison, for obvious reasons.
There is an emotional impact to being seen by listening to their ideas. More events and programming happening at the library means more chances to be involved; more opportunity for creative outlets.
MA: What do you want people to know about San Quentin library?
K: The San Quentin Library is a great place. The staff is really good to work with; much of the energy and ideas behind FoSQL comes from the resident library staff who know what is happening around San Quentin and what the needs of the incarcerated populations are and how the library might help. You can get a good idea about the San Quentin Library and how it compares to other correctional libraries by reading a post by Deuce, one of the library staff.
MA: What do you hope for the FoSQL in 2024?
K: In 2024, we plan to continue to offer our Kids Book Fair for Incarcerated Parents. We hope to grow collaborations with folks on the outside and support programming at the library as well as financially support general library needs as they arise.
One of our long term goals has been to help more geographically isolated prisons in California. Last year we did a book drive for Ironwood Prison Library in Blythe, CA and added about 150 books to their collection. We would love to expand this offering not only to other prisons but also expand the size of our book donation to more than 150 books. We also hope that folks in communities near prisons can start Friends organizations to support their nearby prison library. We have been discussing this model with a few prison libraries and it would be great to see this work grow.
MA: How can folks best support the work you are doing?
K: So the best ways to support us is to buy books off of our wish lists, tell your friends about our work, follow us on social media, help connect us to media or grants, and make monetary donations. We are all volunteer run and we have very low overhead - all donations support the library directly. Which reminds me, another connection we'd love to make is with someone who has or can help us find a very inexpensive office space, storage, and storefront.
We have done a lot in just two years with very little money. I hope we can find additional funding sources as we have so far relied on mostly small donations from individual supporters. If we could get our name out more to folks that haven't heard about our work or to the media that would significantly help us with funding and allow us to buy more books for San Quentin as well as for other prison libraries.