Assessing Service-Learning Programs in Academic Libraries: A Rubric in Action

Abstract

Service-learning is an important practice in higher education, allowing institutions to combine essential campus functions of research and learning with meaningful engagement in the community. As service-learning has made its way into institutional strategic plans, libraries have sought to support this work by integrating community engagement into such library functions as collection development, instruction, reference work, and events or displays. This article explores the need to assess the support libraries provide for service-learning, introducing the "Self-Assessment Rubric for Development of Service-Learning Programs in Academic Libraries" by Katherine Kott. The rubric is comprehensive, touching on mission and culture, information access, space, programming, relationships, and organizational leadership, with four tiers for each dimension. Thoughtful completion of the rubric, with modifications based on one's institutional context, allows libraries invested in service-learning pedagogy to identify their strengths, improve their work, and tell their story to stakeholders and decision makers. Adoption across multiple institutions would benefit efforts to tell the story of libraries' impact on service-learning. Reflection is "sometimes described as the hyphen in service-learning; it is the link that ties student experience in the community to academic learning." 1 This paper will hyphenate service-learning except in cases where an original source does not.

The Social Mission of Academic Libraries in Higher Education

“…Later literature shows librarians collaborating with faculty on SL courses in other disciplines and also initiating stand-alone library/literacy courses in collaboration with community partners (Blodgett 2017;Marrall 2014;Sweet 2013;Nutefall 2016). Proponents of SL point to evident synergies with both traditional library values (democracy, diversity, lifelong learning, public good, service, social responsibility) and current professional concerns, such as critical thinking and social justice education; but they also acknowledge the impact of SL on library practice in IL, collection development, reference work, institutional repositories, exhibition content and collaboration spaces, in facilitating access to a wider range of resources and facilities for students, faculty and community partners (Branch, Nutefall & Gruber 2020;Nutefall et al 2021;Yates 2014). Yates (2014) describes a more strategic role where her university library hosts and partners the campus SL centre.…”