This morning, I read an article posted in the online American Libraries, called Community Reference: Making libraries indispensible in a new way by Colbe Galston, Elizabeth Kelsen Huber, Katherine Johnson, and Amy Long. It reminded me a lot of why I chose to explore service-learning as an option for my information literacy course 5 years ago. They highlight many of the same concepts in their endeavors to get out into the community that are vital to a successful academic service-learning relationships. The authors stress the importance of working as a partner, building relationships and keeping in touch to maintain those relationships. They also talk about embedding themselves in several community organizations, which is similar to my experiences of embedding myself in several service-learning courses at Wright State (see "Embedded librarianship" and "Alternative Spring Break" categories in the right menu on this page for more information about those experiences). These public librarians embedded themselves, first, into the Parker Downtown Development Council (DDC), a group of local business and property owners that later became the nonprofit organization that drives economic development in Douglas County (Colorado). Read the American Libraries article here: http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/features/06132012/community-ref... How can you get away from your desk to prove the library's value to your community?
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