Ball State University prides themselves on reaching out into the Muncie community and finding ways to keep Muncie thriving. Because of this, Ball State students can gain experience in their career field while learning about the importance of giving back to the community. Students can have this opportunity because of Immersive Learning courses held at Ball State.

Ball State defines immersive learning projects as “high-impact learning experiences that involve collaborative student-driven teams guided by faculty mentors. Students earn credit for working with community partners such as businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies to address community challenges through the creation of a product that has a lasting impact.” A project is considered immersive learning if it files a need or solves a problem for a community partner, is offered to students for credit in a course, is conducted under the guidance of a faculty mentor, and results in a specific outcome or deliverable. This is a unique experience Ball State students can partake in and is heavily encouraged.

Last summer, Mary Provence, Assistant Professor of Social Work at Ball State University and principal investigator of this project, reached out to Muncie Public Library to see if they would be interested in a partnership with her Immersive Learning classes. Her class would be conducting a needs assessment at their library locations and seeing what they can gage about the library patrons’ psychosocial needs and Muncie Public Library’s staff perceptions of those needs.

“Sometimes, library guests are in crisis,” Provence said. “All these situations can cause undue stress on library staff who are not usually trained to meet this vast array of needs. That is where library social workers come in, they can both help meet the needs of patrons, but also provide support and training for library staff around these kinds of needs.”

Kelly Batchelor serves as the Muncie Public Library liaison, coordinating between the library and Ball State University. Her responsibilities include providing input on the needs assessment surveys, coordinating the deployment of these surveys among staff and patrons, and facilitating on-site arrangements for student data collection. She also helps organize the logistics for students to observe library operations and prepare for their final presentation to Muncie Public Library stakeholders. She was excited to start this project with Provence’s Immersive Learning class after seeing the growing need for services that they offered.

“There are increasing socio-economic and mental health needs of library patrons,” Batchelor said. “The Muncie Public Library staff encounter patrons facing challenges related to housing, food insecurity, mental health, and other social issues that fall outside the traditional library services. Recognizing that library staff may not be fully equipped to address these needs, this project aims to assess these challenges more accurately through collaborative research with Ball State University’s Social Work Department, aiming to explore potential supports and solutions.”

Jonathan Weiler, social work major, has had several roles throughout this project. Currently, he is a part of the media team conducting interviews, doing future presentations on findings, while also finding additional avenues to present the data in professional settings such as the creation of research articles.

“This project has been beneficial for my own studies in that it has been interesting to learn about what library members need/want from their library and community services at large,” Weiler said. “Learning about the survey process and the steps that are required to comply with Institutional Review Boards standards was incredibly useful information.”

Aneth Delgado, social work major, has learned so much throughout this project about herself and her future career field.

“My role in this project benefitted my studies at Ball State as it gave me an opportunity to engage with the community,” Delgado said. “It helped me practice the skills I have been learning at Ball State. I helped collect data for the patron’s survey and it was incredible to speak with people from the community. It made me feel more connected and confident with my skills. It also expanded my knowledge on how impactful social work can be even in the most unusual ways.”

By addressing these needs, Muncie Public Library and Ball State University may create lasting partnerships that could include social work internship placements, fostering a strong social support network within the library setting. These steps could make the library a vital resource for community wellness, positively impacting the overall quality of life in Muncie.