Human Rights as a Framework for Reflection in Service Learning “Para que Otro Mundo es Posible”

“Reflection” is the most important aspect of the student service learning experience in library settings. Through reflection, service learning abides in a larger context as part of librarianship’s broader connection to the public sphere. Reflection allows students to realize “para que otro mundo es posible” (another world is possible) and that through their commitment to the work of librarianship they will have a role in bringing another world into existence. As a framework for reflection, a model of library service based on human rights provides the pathway to change the world by helping people develop their full capabilities. What could be a better guide for reflection than the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Article 26 echoes the raison d’être for the foundation of the public library in the United States and is a wise rationale for the work of librarians: “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”1