Service-Learning and Interdisciplinarity: A Library Science Perspective

Much of service-learning research is interdisciplinary, however the degree and implications of this interdisciplinarity have not been as of yet adequately analyzed. This chapter uses the library and information science research method of citation analysis, a form of bibliometrics, in order to assess the degree of interdisciplinarity of the service-learning literature as represented in articles in the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (MJCSL), in the Advances in Service-Learning Research (ASLR) series, and in masters theses and dissertation on service-learning and related topics published between 2004-2006. The results show a wide range of disciplinarity both in the departmental affiliation of service-learning scholars and in the research from which they draw. (authors)