Are You My Mentor?

New Perspectives and Research on Informal

Mentorship

Julie James, Ashley Rayner, and Jeannette Bruno

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Telemachus_and_Mentor1.JPG

Agenda• Personal Introductions

• Research Introduction

• Formal Mentorship

• Informal Mentorship

• Why Mentorship?

• Quick Survey

• Survey Discussion

• Conclusions

Where Did This Idea Come From?

Formal Mentorship: A Definition

A mandated senior-junior dyad with the purpose of the senior employee imparting

wisdom about operational procedures in the institution to prepare the junior employee for

promotion.

Examples of Formal Mentorship

• College and university tenure-track programs

• ACRL Dr. E. J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor Program

• YALSA’s Virtual Mentoring Program

Informal Mentorship: A Definition

“Informal mentoring has minimal to no structure and oversight and may

or may not have a clear and specific goal.”

Best Practices: Mentoring. United States Office of Personnel Management. September 2008.

What Makes a Good Mentorship?

• Goal-Setting

• Reciprocity

• Challenging

• Education

• Je ne sais quoi

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Why is Mentorship Important?

• Recruitment

• Retention

• Inclusion

• Development

• Understanding

• Technological literacy

Especially for Librarians of Color

• Increased challenges

• Pipeline development

• Reflecting campus diversity

Any Drawbacks/Concerns?

• Initiative

• Lack of Confidence

• Too Much Structure

• No Connection

We know mentorship is valuable, but is informal mentorship just as

legitimate as formal mentorship?

Short Survey/Audience Participation

• Have you had a formal mentorship?

• Have you had an informal mentorship?

• Have had no type of mentor relationship?

Our Survey

• 2707 possible participants

• 223 respondents completed the survey

• 153 held MLIS degrees

“This survey is completely useless because the definition of informal mentorship is inadequate. What is the difference

between informal mentorship and simply having colleagues who, in an ongoing fashion, give you good advice or listen to

your complaints? It is misleading to try to force "mentoring" into a box with boundaries around it, except for formal things --

which I would prefer to call internships or the like.”

-Respondent

Demographics

Informal vs. Formal Mentors

Mentors by Institution Size

What Makes a Good Mentor?

What Defines an Informal Mentoring Experience?

What Defines a Formal Mentoring Experience?

Supporting New Librarians

Questions?Contact us at jamejuli@my.dom.edu, ashley.rayner@elmhurst.edu,

and jeannette.bruno@elmhurst.edu.

Mentoring OpportunitiesALA and its divisions offers opportunities for mentees and mentors, discussion groups, and affiliate mentoring

programs.http://www.ala.org/transforminglibraries/mentoring-opportunities

http://www.ala.org/educationcareers/mentoring/mentoring_and_recruitment_efforts