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Recommended Library

Every campus office tasked with service-learning and/or community engagement should have a handful of books and journals at the ready. These items are ones that Kansas Campus Compact recommends for that library. Of course, every campus office is different and this list is by no means exhaustive of the best or most useful work available. There may be other sources that will be of particular use to individual programs.

Additionally, any of these make excellent resources to purchase (as part of a grant or outright) to provide to faculty or staff at campus or regional events. Talk to us if you have specific needs and KsCC can guide you further.

Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement: Principles and Techniques (Sherril Gelmon et al, 2001)

This definitive volume offers a broad overview of issues related to assessment in higher education, with specific application for measuring the impact of service-learning and civic engagement initiatives on students, faculty, the institution, and the community. This revised edition provides a comparison of assessment methods, as well as sample assessment tools ranging from surveys to interviews to syllabus analysis guides.

Benchmarks for Campus/Community Partnerships (Jan Torres, ed., 2000)

This seminal work outlines the key features of successful campus/community partnerships, with guidelines for designing, building, and sustaining collaborative partnerships that benefit all parties. Includes specific strategies and processes drawn from case studies of strong partnerships.

Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum: A Resource Book for Service-Learning Faculty in All Disciplines (Richard Battistoni, 2003)

Offers faculty in all disciplines rationales and resources for connecting their service-learning efforts to the broader goals of civic engagement. This volume provides concrete examples of course materials, exercises, and assignments that can be used in service-learning courses to develop students' civic capacities regardless of disciplinary area.

The Engaged Department Toolkit (Richard Battistoni et al, 2003)

This handbook is designed to help departments develop strategies for including community-based work in their teaching and scholarship, making community-based experiences a standard expectation for majors, and encouraging civic engagement and progressive change at the departmental level. It acts as both a resource and a curriculum, assisting others in replicating the Engaged Department Institutes offered nationwide by Campus Compact. The toolkit comes with a CD-ROM with key information from the text as well as PowerPoint slides and sample documents that can be adapted to meet the needs of individual departments.

Fundamentals of Service-Learning Course Construction (Kerrissa Heffernan, 2001)

A hands-on resource with practical guidance to assist faculty in designing, developing, and constructing service-learning courses. This information-packed guide offers six models for service-learning courses, components of an effective syllabus, and a catalogued sample of service-learning assignments.

Introduction to Service-Learning Toolkit: Readings and Resources for Faculty, 2nd Edition (Campus Compact, 2003)

This new revised edition of our bestselling book brings together the best, most up-to-date writing and resources on service-learning, from learning theory and pedagogy to practical guidance on how to implement service-learning in the classroom. This edition reflects the tremendous growth in service-learning that has occurred since the first Toolkit was published in 2000. In addition to updated material throughout, this volume includes expanded chapters on community partnerships, student development, and redesigning curriculum, as well as two new chapters—one exploring the connection between service-learning and civic engagement and the other focusing on community-based research. Revised and expanded recommended reading lists, broken down by topic, bring readers a wealth of print and online resources for further study. The Introduction to Service-Learning Toolkit is an essential resource for faculty and administrators who wish to be part of the growing movement toward civic engagement in higher education.

Looking In, Reaching Out: A Reflective Guide for Community Service-Learning Professionals (Barbara Jacoby and Pamela Mutascio, eds., 2010)

Looking In, Reaching Out is an essential hands-on guide for community service-learning professionals. It's packed with tools, worksheets, and insights designed to provide you with the skills, confidence, support, and balance you need to be successful in your professional and personal lives.

The guide is self-paced; each chapter can be read on its own, or you can read the entire book from start to finish. Thoughtful worksheets allow you to take the concepts that are written and apply them to your personal situation, giving you a tailor-made experience.

The Promise of Partnerships: Tapping into the College as a Community Asset (Jim Scheibel, Erin Bowley, and Steven Jones, 2005)

Designed specifically for community-based organizations, The Promise of Partnerships offers straightforward guidance on how to tap into the resources and expertise of local colleges and universities. For the first time, organizations can gain inside information on making contact with the right people on campus, refining the planning process to ensure that they are true partners in any enterprise, working with students and faculty, and building long-term success. Examples from the field cover a range of partnership activities, from recruiting and training effective volunteers to establishing multimillion-dollar alliances. In addition, each section of the book includes practical tools such as tips, checklists, and best practices.

A Promising Connection: Increasing College Access and Success through Civic Engagement (Christine Cress et al, 2010)

This white paper provides compelling evidence that college students who participate in civic engagement and service-learning activities earn higher grade point averages and are more likely to complete their college degree. The paper finds that two- and four-year higher education institutions across the nation, as well as K-12 schools, are intentionally linking dimensions of civic engagement with learning to educate students for civic life. The result can be the strengthening of educational, economic, and social assets of colleges and communities alike. The paper also reports that civic engagement involving K-12 students can strengthen the pipeline to colleges and universities - helping to address issues of college access and student success in college. These outcomes are especially true for first-generation college attendees, students of color, and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Service-Learning in Higher Education (Andrew Furco, 2002)

The Self-Assessment Rubric for the Institutionalization of Service-Learning in Higher Education was designed to assist members of the higher education community in gauging the progress of their service-learning institutionalization efforts on their campus.

Serving Safely: A Risk Management Resource for College Service Programs (Sharon Joyce and Elaine Ikeda, 2002)

Serving Safely provides service administrators an informational reference point for considering risk management and liability issues in campus service programs. Special attention has been given to developing a common point of understanding between risk managers, campus counsel and service providers (faculty, service administrators, students and community partners) so that effective service policies and procedures that reduce risk, while not compromising program objectives, may be developed and embraced.

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KsCC also recommends subscribing to the following print and email newsletters and journals:

Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning

The MJCSL is a national, peer-reviewed journal for college and university faculty and administrators, with an editorial board of faculty from many academic disciplines and professional fields at the University of Michigan and other U.S. higher education institutions. Since 1994, the Michigan Journal has endeavored to publish the highest quality research, theory, and pedagogy articles related to higher education academic service-learning.

MJCSL goals include: growing the community and deepening the practice of service-learning educators, campus-community partnership practitioners, and community-engaged scholars; sustaining and developing the intellectual vigor of those in this community; encouraging scholarship related to community-engagement; and contributing to the academic/scholarly legitimacy of this work.

Journal of Public Scholarship in Higher Education

The Journal of Public Scholarship in Higher Education features public scholarship—that is, academic inquiry that forms community partnerships to address shared problems, issues, and opportunities. This kind of scholarship—what many think of as Boyer’s “scholarship of engagement”—involves the community in reciprocal relationships with the university; however, it also serves to discover and disseminate new disciplinary knowledge and/or pedagogical practice.

This cross-disciplinary journal provides a forum for scholars to share examples of academic service-learning projects that demonstrate a high level of engagement and reciprocity with the community at the same time as they demonstrate scholarly inquiry. The journal welcomes diverse manuscripts, from empirically-based examinations to critical reflection pieces, theoretical investigations, commentaries, case studies, and pedagogical and research designs. Regardless of methodology, submissions should describe the outcomes of the project on both academic (institution, faculty, student and/or discipline) and community stakeholders. All submissions should also address implications for promoting public scholarship as a rigorous form of scholarly work.

Partnerships: A Journal of Service-Learning & Civic Engagement

Partnerships recognizes that successful engaged learning depends on effective partnerships between students, faculty, community agencies, administrators, disciplines, and more. The articles in this peer-reviewed journal focus on how theories and practices can inform and improve such partnerships, connections, and collaborations. Studies co-authored by faculty, students, and/or community partners; or examining practices across disciplines or campuses; or exploring international networks are all encouraged.