Since it's so rare to hear about the librarians' role in a service-learning course, I contacted both the instructor, Barbara Wallace, and the librarian, Kathi Epperson, for the UC Clermont class I read (and posted) about last week. Wallace told me she used an "embedded librarian." She said the librarian spoke to her class and recommended specific resources via Blackboard. "I’m sad to say that she was really under-utilized but I did teach sophomores who were fairly savvy about finding and incorporating resources" she said. And, Epperson, the librarian, explained that one of the assignments was for students to research and define 'at risk youth' in order to become familiar with the socioeconomic, cultural, and other factors related. Epperson also posted to BlackBoard helpful suggestions when combining and searching concepts such as 'at risk youth' and links to newspapers to find information on the community partners for the course. "I met with the class early in the term to introduce myself, offer my assistance, and demonstrate where the students could find different kinds of resources. I am happy to say that I was contacted by several students in both sections, especially at the beginning of the year. I found them to be very engaged in their project" Epperson said. Epperson also pointed me to a guide she co-created with Rosemary Young for service-learning: http://www.ucclermont.edu/library/guides/service_learning.html (While we're on the topic of service-learning guides, the guide I created for Wright State is here: http://guides.libraries.wright.edu/servicelearning) Of course, embeddedness is a hot topic in librarianship - but it seems to be most often used in terms of being embedded in an online course or a course management system. I wonder if anyone else out there is an embedded librarian in a service-learning course?
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