Critical Information Literacy and Critical Service Learning: Building on Common Ground

Today's post is by Nicole Branch, Associate University Librarian for Learning and Engagement at Santa Clara University and Andrea Brewster, Assessment Manager, Undergraduate Studies at Santa Clara University. It describes research they conducted with Jennifer Nutefall, formerly of Santa Clara University and currently Dean of University Libraries at University of Northern Colorado.

       

SLL blog purpose

As the editorial team prepares to relaunch the Service-learning Librarian blog, we reviewed the blog's purpose. We envision this blog as the hub of a wheel, connecting those in academic libraries supporting service-learning efforts on their campuses. Our work may look different in our various settings, but we can learn from each other. To use another metaphor, a tree as the blog's new graphic shows, library workers can and do support the growth and vitality of community engagement and impact.

Civic Literacy

The concept of civic literacy was brought to my attention this morning by my friend and fellow service-learning enthusiast, Jennifer Nutefall.  Perhaps I've been living under a rock.  I've heard dozens of kinds of literacy in recent years (digital literacy, media literacy, transliteracy, financial literacy, etc), but I haven't spent any time looking into civic literacy.  Jennifer forwarded me papers and proceedings from a recent IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations) conference: