Ideas for Service Learning

In higher education, there has been a trend for colleges and universities to find ways to provide opportunities for students to learn in the context of serving their community. An example of this would be having architectural students work with an architect in the community to plan a new community center and then help to construct it.

I was reading an article the other day about illiteracy and public policy. The government, in the past, has provided funding to organizations willing to provide literacy classes and training to those who do not know how to read or write.

The article stated that though grant funding had been available, many public libraries were not taking advantage of it. The authors also believe that public librarians should continue to consider offering technology and literacy classes to adults.

I believe that academic libraries have a great opportunity to develop literacy programs in the context of service learning. They could partner with other community organizations and departments on campus (such as education) to offer credit to students who are interested in learning to program and educate adults who want to improve their reading and writing skills. I know this would take a lot of work to pull off, but I think it would be a great service for the library to offer and a great learning experience to offer to our students.

Virtual Community Collide

Yesterday, I had two friends contact me independently. One of them had posted a personal ad on Craigslist and the other one responded to it. They each separately figured out that I knew the other, and were asking me questions about each other. They also both asked me not tell the other one that they had talked to me. I am really amused by this situation.

I am in the process of writing a paper about how community is formed in virtual environments. The premise of dating sites or even sites like Craigslist is that the virtual community and physical community are not very far removed. I’m beginning to see how this works. My two friends have at least seen each other before, they were both at a wedding, and I may have even introduced them at that point in time. They have some commonalities and know a few people in common. I really think that there’s a possibility that they might have met each other in the physical world (and they may already have!) but it was really the technology that helped them to meet each other. Craigslist focused their ability to find those commonalities in each other which are an important foundation for any relationship.