University Library Mentoring Program

Abstract

Overview: University Library’s (UL) Mentoring Program has the goal of developing and retaining productive, professional librarians who can achieve tenure. The program was created to address the needs expressed by tenure-track librarians for more professional guidance. Following receipt of a Mentoring Academy award in September 2015, UL Mentoring Program implementation became Tina Baich and Kathleen Hanna’s IUPUI Next Generation 2.0 capstone project. Outcomes: The program launched in January 2016. The activities described below were intended to teach librarians how to be good mentees and mentors, help them identify needs and strengths, and encourage mentees to initiate mentoring relationships. The library purchased copies of the Mentor’s/Mentee’s Guide for each librarian; Kathleen Hanna and Tina Baich facilitated a meeting during UL’s Organization Week to introduce the program, answer questions, and distribute books; Hanna and Baich also facilitate a monthly book discussion; three additional workshops, a lightning sharing session, and a group webinar viewing have been held. Short-term goals outlined in the proposal will be assessed at the end of the first year. Lessons Learned: Attendance at mentoring program events was lower than anticipated. It also took longer for tenure-track librarians to seek out mentors than expected. The low attendance at events and slowness to identify mentors pointed to a lack of engagement among the tenure-track librarians. However, after making an effort to speak with them about these issues, I learned that engagement was not the problem. Instead, they lack the time in their busy schedules and need additional support from the program to reach the level of engagement they desire. I am considering program modifications to better meet the needs of our mentees.