Project Description- 

Partnering with NYPL Jail and Prison Services, the Reference and Instruction course answers some of these letters and provides reference services to those who are not able to access them. The students answer three letters over the period of two months and provide detailed answers to the questions initially submitted. 

Role-

I am the sole owner/student of this project.

Methods- 

The methodology for engaging with this project began with using reference skills I already possessed such as identifying information needs and critical thinking skills. This project was a practice in developing search queries and strategies, organizing and presenting information, navigating through the vast information landscape of the internet and ascertaining which sources are applicable to the users information needs. 

This writer inquired about starting a beauty salon business in Maryland. In addition to this query, this writer also had a second question about any updates to criminal sentencing law in New York that would allow them to get the majority (85%) of any criminal sentence deferred or waived. 

The NYPL Jail and Prison Services LibGuide was the greatest asset in answering this question. The template for answering questions about starting a business provided a framework for researching and finding an appropriate answer to this writer’s question. 

The template provided a guide to follow with sections to structure the information in digestible segments. The provided segments were as follows:

  Section I. Starting a Business with a Criminal Record

Section II. Resources from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

Section III. Resources from NY State and NYC Government

Section IV. Steps to Follow in Maryland

Section V. Try It Yourself: A Mini Business Plan

Within these segments, I paid particular attention to the steps to follow for starting a business—with specificity for the state of Maryland. The writer would need to register their business in Maryland, obtain a federal tax ID from the IRS, file the required federal beneficial ownership information report, apply for state accounts and insurance, obtain licenses and permits, purchase business insurance, and purchase health insurance. 

The second question is about any laws or legislation that would help reduce criminal sentencing. While there were not many answers to this question, this is what has happened on the criminal law sentencing front over the past few years: 

The Clean Slate Act, which helps people who complete their sentences and remain out of trouble for a set period — three years for misdemeanors, eight for eligible felonies — will have their convictions sealed. 

The Earned Time Act focuses on increasing, protecting, and expanding eligibility for good time and merit time for people serving time in state prison. 

The Research Process:

The search process for this was incredibly daunting because it required fully-fledged and concrete steps for the writer to be able to have their question answered. Within the steps required for starting a business, there was a need for specificity in the legal regard and technical regard. The template was my greatest resource and asset in starting to understand a method to research the answer to this question. The second greatest asset was the State of Maryland’s website, which helped entrepreneurs in their journey. The site (https://businessexpress.maryland.gov/start ) Business Express provides comprehensive step-by-step instructions and suggestions on how to start a business in Maryland. 

For the second question about any laws or legislation that would help reduce criminal sentencing, I checked recent legislation passed in New York through the State Assembly’s website (https://nyassembly.gov/leg/). After seeing the Clean Slate Act and Earned Time Act as recent legislation for criminal law— particularly criminal sentencing, I knew the easiest way to make sense of the legislation without the jargon would be to research articles released on the matter from any reputable source. For these reasons, my sources outside of the NY assembly website ended up being: The Clean Slate website (https://www.cleanslateny.org) , the Legal Action Center (https://www.lac.org/major-project/clean-slate-ny) , and Fwd.Us, a social justice organization focused on incarceration and immigration. 

Learning Outcomes Achieved and Rationale-

This project best fits the learning outcome of User-Centered Services. These letters are a real-world application of reference services and focus specifically on the information needed by a user. The user’s need shapes the research, keywords and is an active practice of using reference work to fulfill the needs and wants of someone with a question. This is a service that meets the user where they are at— an information desert and allows for dissemination of information despite the hypersurveillance, inhumanity and censorship of both prisons and jails.