THE

 NEW  LIBRARY:  JOHN  DEWEY’S  PHILOSOPHY  OF   1  

EDUCATION  AND  EXPERIENCE  
 

 
The New Library: John
Dewey’s Philosophy of
  Education and Experience
 

  Seton Hill University

May 7, 2018
 

 
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EDUCATION  AND  EXPERIENCE  
 

The New Library: John Dewey’s Philosophy of Education and Experience

Introduction

Often, libraries are thought of as quiet places where people visit to study

and read. However, libraries are now turning into places where many people

come together to participate in activities that help their community form a

stronger bond and grow relationships. As such, the library has become a place

where people learn through first hand experiences beyond reading. These

kinesthetic educational activities help visitors learn something new. Although

John Dewey, philosopher of education, wrote a century ago, his ideas offers in

depth insight into this existential change of libraries today.

Dewey posits that when children learn more from playing with one

another, they become willing to try new things and take suggestions from other

children. Moreover, those children will usually choose someone they feel to be

the leader, and that child may value the experience slightly more (Dewey 1938,

p.55). Dewey believed the ideas of practical thinking and the idea of experience

should be integrated into education. He argues, “An experience may be

immediately enjoyable and yet promote the formation of a slack and careless

attitude; this attitude then operates to modify the quality of subsequent

experiences so as to prevent a person from getting out of them what they have to

give” (p.26). Dewey explains that the quality of experience given to students is

more important then the quantity. For example, a teacher could do less lecturing

in the classroom where the student could learn nothing from what was intended
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to be taught, or a teacher could do one exercise that has a point to the lesson and

the student could leave with a more profound understanding. As such, libraries

may offer engaging activities to facilitate learning. This paper utilizes Dewey’s

philosophy of experience in education by engaging a hermeneutic analysis of

Experience & Education to enhance and foster meaningful service-learning

activities in libraries.

Arnett’s Teachings on Research

Arnett highlights three major ways to do research: qualitative,

quantitative, and interpretive. Qualitative research responds to the

communicative interest under exploration. Quantitative research responds to

the communicative event that captures public disclosure of method and findings

as public evidence. Interpretive research involves the engagement of

hermeneutics. Hermeneutics seeks temporal understanding rather than

definitive facts. The researcher garners this understanding from interpreting a

text, which may possess infinite interpretations based on how it responds to

questions that emerge in different historical moments. In exegesis, as an

example, the bible was interpreted in many different ways, but from the same

text.

Before hermeneutic analysis of a text begins, Arnett says that this

research must start with a question as origin, followed by reading, writing,

editing, and finally thinking and interpretation. This paper will elucidate a

hermeneutic understanding of John Dewey’s theory on experience and education

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to offer greater insight of the changing role of libraries and their use of service-

learning.

Life of John Dewey

John Dewey was born on October 20, 1859 in Burlington, VT. He was an

American philosopher and educator who was a founder of pragmatism and an

advocator in a progressive movement in education in the United States. Dewey

received a bachelors degree from the University of Vermont in 1879. He then

worked to receive his doctorate degree in philosophy from Johns Hopkins

University in 1884. From there, he became a professor of philosophy and

psychology at the University of Michigan. During his time as a professor, he

found a great interest in Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, G. Stanley Hall, and

William James. He furthered his studies into child psychology and developed a

philosophy of education.

Dewey witnessed many changes in the educational field. He noticed that

many public schools around the country had more and more children attend;

many of the colleges and institutions were starting to have boys and girls attend

as well. Dewey saw an opportunity to change the traditional way of teaching, and

sought to start a new progressive education. According to James S. Gouinlock,

“The common theme underlying Dewey’s philosophy was his belief that a

democratic society of informed and engaged inquirers was the best means of

promoting human interests” (p. 1).

Dewey’s Philosophy
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Dewey believed that a sense of experience in education was a way for

children to have educational activities in the classroom. These activities would

not only help the children learn, but also it was faster and more efficient. Dewey

found great controversy when it came to tradition education and progressive

education. In Dewey’s book, Experience and Education, he explains the concept

of the Either-Or philosophies. This term means to choose one side or the other

while also coming to an in-between possibility. Yet, Dewey explains that we

should take traditional and progressive education and find a good medium. This

is where Dewey got the idea of experience and how that should be integrated into

schools.

Dewey posits that progressive schools should not only have a philosophy of

education, but also a philosophy of experience. In Dewey’s studies, he mentions

the term “growth” and how children experience this growth by doing something

(1938). Dewey explains that the growth of a student should be the number one

priority in education. This idea of “doing” consists of putting new experiences in a

continuing connection with the world and its many possibilities. In this sense,

these new experiences become freeing to the students as they contrast against

their regular routines. According to Vasco D’Agnese, author of The Essential

Uncertainty of Thinking: Education and Subject in John Dewey, “education is the

way in which the emerging subject that we are put forth new points of

interactions within the environment, engendering new experience” (2017, p.

75).
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Dewey (1910) formulates the idea of education as “an emancipation and

enlargement of experience” (p.156). In return, experience takes that knowledge

and transpires it within experience and through education. Dewey explains that

if we could predict the outcomes of experience, we would lose that newness and

therefore we would not foster the education behind those experiences. Therefore,

the uncertainty of experience is the key to how education happens. It is human

nature to intentionally engage in different experiences, especially ones that have

an educational purpose in the end. Correspondingly, true education comes

through the imagination and creativity of a child’s mind in experiencing

something new.

This imagination and creativity turns into great opportunity for social

situations and children will start developing their own conceptions of what they

believe is right and wrong. According to Gladys L. Borchers, author of John

Dewey and Speech Education, “The subject matter is not science, literature,

history, geography, but the child’s own life and experience” (1968). Dewey

believed that education should have an aspect of existential learning, so students

may learn with first-hand experiences rather then listening to a teacher lecture

about a particular subject. The contemporary practice of service-learning

provides an outlet for learners to apply what they learn into real life skills and

knowledge, which may garner greater understanding through Dewey’s

philosophy.

Service-Learning Programs in Libraries

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Libraries are becoming a place where they not only help children’s

academic journey, but also help enrich civic education and help grow social skills

with other children to become valued citizens of their community. The

conception of the “new library” has been doing more things for the community

with a “we help each other” mentality. Most libraries do programs and activities

that promote many different members of the community from firefighters to

beekeepers. According to John S. Riddle, author of the article “Where’s the

Library in Service Learning?: Models for Engaged Library Instruction,” a form of

“experiential education in which students engage in activities that address

human and community needs together with structured opportunities

intentionally designed to promote student learning and development” (2003, p.

72). John Dewey talks highly about engaging students to learn concepts with real

world experiences and taking what they learned with those experiences to go out

into the world with open minds and the confidence to take on any challenge.

Shirley Bateman, author of “Innovation in Local Studies Collections and

Programs: How Melbourne Library Service is Fostering Community Pride”

explains, “The best ways to engage with the community is through the provision

of high quality innovative, local history collections and programs” (Bateman

2012). Service learning has become a great importance in this generation. It

calls upon skills such as information use, critical thinking, and evaluation; it has

also become a widely used teaching method in both schools and libraries.

Academic Libraries
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In academic libraries, librarians help with students’ research with

LibGuides, databases, and their wide range of books for their chosen research.

Jones (2018), discusses the importance of the library within university settings

by writing, “librarians participate in monthly school meetings to discuss new and

discontinued resources, share analysis of information fluency in student

research, answer faculty members’ questions, and provide any other information

relevant to the group” (in press). Jones furthers her point by talking about the

assistance that the librarians give to students to succeed in their certain service-

learning projects. For example, where she works, Seton Hill’s library helps the

students take their skills and interest and combine them to create a chosen topic

for students to research. In addition, her students plan, organize, and facilitate

an undergraduate research conference at the library. This service-learning

activity provides them with greater understanding of event planning and

multiple modes of inquiry and research.

Service learning creates a new type of social connections between libraries

and its visitors. Service learning works to increase the learning experience by

giving students more educational responsibility. Many librarians at academic

libraries grow a strong relationship with the students and faculty. Herther

(2008), author of “Service Learning and Engagement in the Academic Library”

and librarian at University of Minnesota, says that she often receives email from

both students and faculty asking for help with job hunting, other classes, class

activity brainstorming, and even requests for help with a non-library issues,

problems with registration or even tickets for special university events.

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Some undergraduate schools have classes that introduce students to

libraries and what they may offer beyond books. McDevitt (2011), editor of Let

the Games Begin and library director at Indiana University of Pennsylvania,

explains that for a long time, she taught a library instruction class that was

devoted to orientation to library places, collections, and services. She explains

that after a few years of teaching the course, she found that the class started to

get very dull, so she developed an activity that made the class more interesting;

the activity is called “Libraries Best Beach Ball”. McDevitt then explains how she

creates the teams to start the activity,

To create the teams and assign places/services to investigate, throw a

beach ball with places/services written on it around the room. When a

student catches it, assign him or her to investigate the place/service that

the right thumb is touching on. Repeat this until each student has a

place/service and partners for the quest. (p. 24).

McDevitt then sends the teams out and to find and learn about the

places/services that were assigned to them. The students should be able to

answer three questions about the place/service by the end of the activity: “Where

is the place/service located? What happens there? Why might this be considered

the best place in the library?” (McDevitt, 2011, p. 24). The activity ends with the

students sharing with the class their findings and the class then votes for the

best team and the winners get a small prize for their efforts. This activity not

only makes the class more interesting, but also teaches the students, through

experience, the importance of a library and what it could be used for in an

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academic setting. Thus, academic libraries have become more of a place where

students and faculty feel more welcomed and comfortable to be themselves.

Public Libraries

In public libraries, they are places that open to the general public and

welcomes anyone from the community to access their collections. Many modern

public libraries grow community interest by having educational activities and

programs that draw in children, teens, and adults. Most public libraries start by

bringing in their community partners to do some kind of program. The libraries’

network will then expand into the nearby school district, local businesses, non-

profit organizations, local authors, and even the smallest family businesses.

Melanie Ramsey, Director of Children’s and Youth Services at Hollidaysburg

Area Public Library, says “our programs go through a wide variety from our

firefighters, local police, and emergency specialists, to local farmers that bring a

cow to show children how to milk it” (Interview). These kinds of programs could

potentially help a child determine what they want to be when they grow up or

show them that they have many different options. Bateman (2012) explains how

Mebourne’s Public Library in Australia was able to get the community aspect

that was needed saying “the program evolved when we observed the success of

events with a local history flavor” (p. 13). Bateman continues by providing a

bulleted list of the benefits of having these kinds of programs. She explains:

Events about our history are a hit because:

• People love learning more about the place in which they live;

• The community is intrigued by the colorful characters who shaped the city;
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• Visitors are keen to discover more about Melbourne;

• Library staff have a sense of pride, and strong engagement, in running

events about their home town. (p. 15).

Public libraries also give teens and adults the chance to volunteer. Volunteering

gives middle and high school students the opportunity to take on service-learning

first hand. Many adults that volunteer are retired teachers and caregivers.

Volunteers gain the chance to grow their network with community members and

other librarians for their future career goals, personal enrichment, or to give

back to their community.

Conclusion

John Dewey advocates experience and how children efficiently learn from

doing and listening rather then just listening. He says that intelligent activity

uses desire and impulse to acquire moving force in the mind. It allows us think

outside-the-box and with the purpose to execute an idea. With a new library that

gives the option of educational programs and activities, children are able to not

only listen to what the presenter has to say, but also physically do small

activities to fully understand what is being said. At the end of these programs,

the children leave with an open mind and a willingness and curiosity to learn

more.

Dewey believed the ideas of practical thinking and the idea of experience

should be integrated into education. He believed that with experience, children

could find a purpose in what they are learning and could instantly become more

interested. Libraries take that step to show children that education and learning
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can be exciting. Libraries could help propel children into further education and

advocate for them to be valued and virtuous members of society.

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