Chapters authored
Community Libraries as Conflux Places for Higher Education Service-Learning Activities: Exemplified with Cases from Botswana
Service learning has now taken center stage to address the need for education with social impact. Service learning is a pedagogical outreach strategy used by higher education institutions (HEIs) to promote the coparticipation of learners with community members in addressing real societal challenges. More academic courses require this practical approach, as is the case in the Department of Adult Education at the University of Botswana. These courses are place- and problem-based, meaning they are carried out in carefully selected places, and community libraries can provide a confluence for these. In Botswana, these libraries are found across the country, in urban and rural villages, positioning them as neutral, friendly, and cultural environments to accommodate projects that satisfy not only the need for education with social impact but also the much-needed life skill of lifelong learning (LLL) for all. LLL, together with other principles of adult education deemed relevant, constitutes frameworks for planning and running service-learning activities, which are discussed in this chapter. Service-learning activities are driven by life needs, such as the lack of skills to engage in self-employment/entrepreneurship; uplifting existing livelihood projects such as food gardening, small livestock, fishing, health and family issues, and others. Students can partner with community groups such as families, social service groups, cultural centers, community-based organizations, businesses, religious organizations, and government ministries to explore these service areas. Community libraries would offer a safe place for these groups to work together on identified projects. The chapter highlights recent developments in Botswana’s community libraries that position them as vital conflux places for HEIs’ service learning. Additionally, the merging of adult education principles with libraries’ information literacy values suggests an operational framework for driving the types of service-learning activities discussed in this chapter. Conditions for community libraries to serve as effective service-learning centers are also outlined.
Part of the book: Construction of a Learning Society