Mentoring in Libraries

I've recently restarted a mentoring program for my state library association. I'm trying to find ways to get people more involved in the program. If you are a mentor, what inspired you to step up? If you have been thinking about it, but haven't taken the plunge, what stopped you? Lastly, what do you think would make a mentoring program more attractive to you?

jdscott50

• management

Comments

• KatieR: This question is too discussion based, also has little to do directly with libraries other thanh the mentoring is being done with librarians.
• Joe: @KatieR : I'd argue that it's on-topic, as I assume the motivation for a librarian to mentor others is going to be different than other professions.
• KatieR: Can you expand on how it would be different? Also, if it is on topic, it is still too discussion based.
• jdscott50: There are specific issues for librarians for mentoring. For example, there are regional issues for libraries in rural areas, how can they connect to others if they aren't near their colleagues?

Answer by andrea

i was in a mentoring program at my last library job and it was a great experience though very informal and, ultimately, cut short since i left the job. it was run by the county library system i worked for and i was paired with a veteran staff member that had basicaly the same position i did (though at a much busier branch). i think for both my mentor and myself, having system-sanctioned time to meet each month was one of the main reasons we were open to the mentoring program. it makes a big difference when on your monthly schedule, there's specific time - i think it was 4 hours - set aside.

Comments

• jdscott50: Thank you Andrea. I like the technique you describe. It is nice when you have time set aside to meet. That's a great idea.

Answer by Erin White

I can speak to a mentoring program within a medium-sized academic library, which is admittedly less geographically distributed than a state library association.

Our library has established a very low-maintenance mentoring program through our library faculty organization. Each year, all interested librarians sign up to be a potential mentor. These librarians submit a short bio of themselves that includes their research interests, their work areas, and other non-work info if desired. These profiles are posted on our staff website. When a new librarian is hired, that person can peruse the profiles of the mentors and choose who s/he would like to be paired with. The mentoring program is only a couple years old, but participation is good so far.

These are some factors that make our mentoring program attractive to mentors and mentees:

• Mentor and mentee participation is completely optional.
• Mentees don't have to seek out the mentorship program - it's offered automatically when they join the organization.
• The mentee has a way to peruse the profiles of all mentors and is free to choose whoever they'd like as a mentor. No one is assigned a mentor unless they request an assignment (understandable if there are a lot of mentors to choose from!)
• Mentorships can cross departmental/functional boundaries, i.e. a new systems librarian can be mentored by an archivist.
• There's no regulation of what the mentor/mentee relationship looks like. Mentor and mentee set their own parameters for the relationship. There is no required end-of-year report.
• As @user306 mentioned, mentors/mentees are allowed to meet during work hours.
• Our library doesn't do this, but it would also be great if mentees could choose multiple mentors: one for scholarship, one for leadership, etc.

What inspired me to step up: I have benefited greatly from relationships with my mentors, and I am new enough myself to remember what it was like to be starting out at my organization, in my city, and in librarianship.

Comments

• jdscott50: Thank you Erin. People find each other using a webpage database? This is a great example.
• Erin White: Glad this helps! Yes, there are few enough mentors at our institution that they are all just listed on a single static HTML webpage. Depending on your web CMS and the size of your organization you may opt to do something fancier.