After a summer & early fall hiatus, Service-Learning Librarian is back with a guest post from Dr. Julianne Gassman: Director, Office of Community Engagement and Professor, Recreation, Tourism & Nonprofit Leadership at University of Northern Iowa. We hope you appreciate Julianne's take on how to ensure our institutions center the community part of community engagement, with support from service-learning librarians.

Libraries have been involved in service-learning for years through instruction for service-learning courses, displaying and archiving related course projects, and providing assistance in finding and conducting research necessary for community-based work. But it’s only recently been moving toward a more systematic and programmatic approach. One tool that can assist libraries is the Self-Assessment Rubric for Development of Service Learning Programs in Academic Libraries, developed by Katherine Kott.

Have you been thinking about submitting a proposal for the first-ever colloquium on libraries & service-learning?  Good news!  The deadline has been extended to February 7. See more details about the conference and follow us on Twitter.

The bad news is that I had to cancel this semester's service-learning information literacy course due to low enrollment. I attribute it to a couple different factors:  miscommunication with the registrar (our course wasn't titled or labeled properly as service-learning) and a very awkward time in our transition to semesters at my institution during which some students are "caught in the middle."  I hope for better enrollment next spring when I teach the course again.

In 2015, many institutions will be applying or re-applying for the (elective) Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. I'm wondering if other libraries out there are supporting this process on their campus?  One way I'm helping is by reporting my community engagement activities so that they can be counted.

I’m pleased to announce that I’m on the planning committee for a new one-day library colloquium about libraries & service-learning!  Details forthcoming.  For now, save the date!  It will take place on Monday, August 11, 2014 at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.  Spread the word to your colleagues.  The conference is for those new to service-learning and service-learning veterans.

Thanks to those of you who may be visiting this blog because you attended the session "From research to action: Pairing Information Literacy and Service-learning" at the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) conference last week.   My co-presenters (Dr. Maggie Stevens, Executive Director, Indiana Campus Compact; Jennifer Nutefall, University Librarian at Santa Clara University and Dr.

My copy of Harry C. Boyte's "The Citizen Solution:  How you can make a difference"  just arrived.  I requested it because Boyte is coming to my campus in April, and I plan to go hear him speak.  I'm only on page 15, but I've already found a passage that resonates very deeply for me.

Academic librarians:  If you're going to the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) conference in April, I hope you'll consider attending the panel presentation:  "From research to action: pairing information literacy and service-learning."  I will be co-presenting with my friend and co-instructor, Dr. Sarah Twill, a Wright State Social Work professor, my friend and fellow service-learning enthusiast, Jennifer Nutefall, University Librarian at Santa Clara University, and Dr. Maggie Stevens, Executive Director of Indiana Campus Compact.

Fifth Street Brewpub from Reinvention on Vimeo.