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

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.