Service learning has become an increasingly popular educational tool for middle schools in recent years (Musucci & Renner, 2000). More than just an opportunity for students to perform community service such as volunteering at a local soup kitchen, service learning is designed to integrate "service to the community" with classroom learning (qtd. in Griffin-Bonnaire, 2003). In service learning, students are challenged to apply their classroom knowledge and skills in a wide variety of disciplines to their provision of community service. Apart from their value to the community, service learning activities also personalize education for the students, thus increasing its meaningfulness due to its relevance to the real world (Marshall, 2004). In the process, students undergo a cycle of action and reflection as they apply their knowledge and skills and critically examine their experiences, thus enabling them to recognize the importance of education (Points of Light Foundation, n. d.).
In view of this description of service learning, what role should be played by the middle school library, which will support, motivate and initiate serve learning opportunities with the students and the staff? For the remainder of this paper, the contribution of the middle school library to service learning opportunities will be explored by addressing the following areas:
Role of middle school library and its media specialist (formerly known as librarian) in enhancing the quality of the learning process for students and teachers in all areas of learning;
Application of the role of the middle school library media specialist to service learning; and
The Service Learning Bookshelf and how it fulfills the criteria of the National Association of Secondary School Principals' (NASSP) "four-step approach to service learning: (1) preparation, (2) action, (3) reflection, and (4) demonstration" (Musucci & Renner, p. 37).
To facilitate any types of ...