Transcript Aftermath: Immediate Reactions

Starting a Mentorship Program
for Academic Librarians
ROB BREMER
MEGAN LOWE
MIKE MATTHEWS
Who We Are
 Rob Bremer: LLA Academic Libraries Section
Liaison with ACRL-LA

User Services Librarian, Louisiana Tech University Library
 Megan Lowe: Chair, Mentoring Committee

Reference Librarian, University of Louisiana at Monroe
 Mike Matthews: President, ACRL-LA

Information Literacy/Online Learning Services Librarian,
Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Lessons Learned from
Assessment
PART ONE
Our Work to Date…LLA 2008
 Introduction of the “mentorship idea” at LLA
March 2008
 Review of the Literature

Formalized mentorship programs exist in large academic
library settings (Carnegie I or II)


Over-represented because of high profile institutions
 Summative evaluations
 Formative evaluations
 Successful Mentee = Job Security
Smaller academic libraries

Variety of approaches, but mostly informal
Our Work to Date…Environmental Scan
 ACRL has programs for supporting new library
managers/administrators…but not rank and file
librarians
 The Medical Library chapter-wide mentorship
program
Centrally organized but informal
 New librarians are paired with more knowledgeable colleagues
 Database of prospective mentees/mentors
 Six-hour mentorship seminar for interested members

Our Work to Date…Organizational
 Convened two meetings of the ACRL-LA Executive
Council (March 26 and June 18)

Decisions:
Who do we want to reach with this program?
 For whose benefit is this program being created?
 Whose blessings must we secure? (AKA: How do not ruffle the
feathers of any Big Birds?)
 What are the baseline expectations of this program?

Déjà-vu All Over Again?
Mentorship and the SLIS Students (2003)
Is it time for history to repeat itself?
Our Work to Date…the Survey
 Partially modeled on the South Central Chapter of
MLA mentorship survey of 2004

For both mentors and mentees
Length of Service
 Motivations of participants of mentors/mentees
 Interests of prospective mentors and mentees


Define the viability and goals of the mentorship program
Do they already participate as a mentor/mentee at their home
institution? Is it an effective program?
 What are their common career goals and aspirations?
 Are they able to perform the tasks of a mentor or mentee?

Concerns
 Would the success of the MLA chapter translate into
results for Louisiana?



How would the success of a mentorship program be measured?
Academic librarians do not require CEUs (Continuing
Education Units) to proceed in their career tracks.
Academic librarians must know a more generalized body of
knowledge than medical librarians.
Working Hypotheses
 Older librarians will be retiring at an alarming rate;




79% will retire by 2024
Younger librarians need guidance in the cultures and
philosophies of the academic librarian profession
Older librarians will want to share their knowledge
with their younger colleagues
Younger librarians could (should?) learn how to
perform complex tasks on the job; an older
librarian’s guidance could be the solution
Librarians, regardless of age, are interested in
improving their skills
Majority Do Not Have Mentorship Program
An Experienced Workforce
With a Strong Sense of Professionalism…
Who Want to Help
And Who Need Skilled Colleagues…
But who are too busy or feel they don’t know enough
to be of assistance. (Huh?)
What the Survey Data Tells Us…
 66% of respondents have 5 or more years of
experience


Yet, 37% do not believe they are experienced enough to be
mentors
And, 37% are simply “too busy” to be a mentor
 50% of respondents want to be a mentor
 Only 15% (6) want to have a mentor
 Yet, 61% would like to participate in a continuing education
opportunity directed to mentees
Is There a Connection Here?
Kirkland, Janice. The Missing Women Library Directors:
Deprivation versus Mentoring C&RL July 1997
Grooming Model
When grooming goes bad…
Peer Networking Model
So What Can We Do?
 Investigate further (i.e. continue to annoy respondents
with more surveys)
• Greater specificity
• Correlative
• Cross-sectional
 Conduct focus groups either in-person, online or via
conference call
• Quick, actionable data
 Coordinate activities with LALINC Directors and SLIS
• Broaden support network
• Eliminate redundant efforts
Start Here
Plan for the Future
Future Assessments
 Mentorship Commitment Inventory
 Auditing of interest and effort by mentors
To provide a trusting relationship
 To teach mentees skills
 To guide mentees in decision-making and reflection (i.e. active
listening)


Auditing of interest and effort by mentees
To learn new skills
 To participate in mentor/mentee programming
 To collaborate with Mentors in providing service to the
profession

Future Assessments
 Demographics
Age, sex, length of service, number of years as a state resident, years until
retirement
 Career information
 First or second career librarians? (Maybe third?)
 Transitions
 Moving to management?
 Deciding to specialize?
 Expertise (you would like to share)
 Reference
 Cataloging/Systems
 Management/Administration
 Instruction
 Outreach/Publicity/Marketing

Timeline to Completion
1/09:
Mentorship
Commitment
Inventory
5/09:
Demographics,
Career, and
Expertise
Survey
8/09: Program
is launched
12/09:
Preliminary
Assessment of
Success
05/10:
Assessment of
Success
Possible Outcomes
 Results may show…

We don’t need a “formal” mentorship program

We need a mentorship program, but one which is peerbased and flexible.

We don’t need a mentorship program in any form.
If there is not a significant need for a statewide mentorship
program, we still have accumulated data to guide our
chapter’s other initiatives!
Assessing our Success
 Qualitative Data
 Anonymous questionnaires
Deployed on secure website with passwords
 Open-ended questions requiring essay responses
 Quality of relationship
 Quality of feedback
 Reflection on “lessons learned”

 Quantitative Data
Rating of mentor/mentee
 Rating of interest in program
 Comparison of initial intentions with final outcomes

What could be the long-term benefits of a mentoring
program?
What could be the long-term benefits of a mentoring
program?
M.A.L.D.E.N.?
Beyond Thunderdome:
Meta-Analysis and Aftermath
PART TWO
What Were We Thinking?
 LOUIS (and, by extension, LUC) and LLA were
great venues for learning…but academic librarians
needed more venues for academic library
scholarship and assistance with academic library
concerns (beyond SIRSI, etc.)
 There seemed to be a lot of new academic librarians
in the state who might need help
 ACRL-LA seemed the logical answer to fill in the
gap between LOUIS and LLA, and the logical
solution to the needs of new academic librarians
What Were We Thinking?
 The ACRL-LA Executive Council decided that the
best way to gather information about the needs of
new librarians (and the need for a mentoring
program) was a survey
 A committee, with several task forces, was formed;
one task force developed the survey
Side Effects Include…
 Along the way, we revamped our website
 Online forms for membership led to…
 Online forms for our pre-conference workshop!
 Developed an online forum wherein we discuss
issues and concerns (vs. doing it all via email and
filling up inboxes)
 Learned about the skills and strengths of our
membership, which produce great resources
Aftermath: Ch-ch-changes!
 The target group, new librarians, has changed to
librarians in transition
 The structure is changing from mentor-mentee to
peer-colleague
 The purpose is even changing: in the beginning
was pure mentorship, now we’re also looking at
continuing education opportunities
Identifying Our Next Steps
 More surveys (follow-up)
 Bulldozing ahead
• Establishing “duties” or guidelines for mentors/peers
• Contacting deans & the library managers interest group
• Identify areas of interest for continuing education
opportunities for academic librarians
What Do We Do Now?
 Re-evaluate our purpose and our mission
 Gain a better understanding of the needs of
librarians in the state
 Focus on providing continuing education


We are able to still help librarians…
…and in non-library ways!
 Creating and maintaining resources as the
mentoring program evolves and develops
Still Up for Debate
 Format
 Casual vs. formal?
 Directory of Experts?
 FAQ?
 Name of mentors/mentees
“Mentees”?
 “Peer-Mentees”?
 “Mentors”?
 “Peer-Mentor”?
 “Professional friend”?
 “Grasshoppa”? (just kidding)

Challenges | Problems | Obstacles
 Hurricanes (that’s a big one)
 Resolving the aforementioned debatable
topics
 Size of the committee: needs to be larger
 Getting started (re-beginning the beginning)
 Interest? Need? Desire?
 Variables (people, people-resources,
resources, resources for people, etc.)
 Information & Interest
Definite Outcomes
 Planning more workshops like our Pre-LUC
workshop, “Publish & Flourish: Writing for
Academic Librarians”
 Focusing on technology-oriented workshops,
covering such topics as Flash, Camtasia, and Moodle
 Pursuing our vision of a mentorship program, but
adapting as new information becomes available via
follow-up surveys
What Can You Do?
Join ACRL-LA!





If you’re a member of ACRL, you’re automatically a member of
ACRL-LA
If you aren’t a member of ACRL and you would like to join
ACRL-LA, it’s just $20 – see our website for membership
information
Volunteer to serve on the mentorship committee
Volunteer to be a mentor/peer friend/whatever
Don’t be afraid to be a mentee/grasshoppa/whatever
What Can You Do?
 Take our surveys – the information you provide is
crucial to our understanding of academic librarians
in the state of Louisiana, even beyond mentorship
 Don’t be afraid to contact us with concerns, ideas,
recommendations, suggestions – we *WANT* to
hear from you!
Sharing the Mentoring Vision:
the Louisiana Library Association
PART THREE
Sharing the Mentoring Vision: A Timeline
 Until in/about 2000, LLA had a New Members
Round-Table, with a nebulous mentoring
program for new librarians … at least an atConference pairing of new librarians with
established ones, which may or may not have
sustained a continuing relationship between the
two librarians.
 Since the disbanding of NMRT, LLA has from
time to time “kicked around” the idea of
establishing a formal mentoring program …
without any movement forward.
A Timeline
On March 6, 2008, as the 2008 LLA Conference
came to a close, the President-Elect challenged the
LLA Membership to establish a program for bringing
librarians-in-training and new librarians into LLA
and to encourage them to stay with the Association
and participate in its sections, interest groups,
conferences, programs, and projects.
A Timeline
On June 23, 2008, the Co-Coordinators of the LLA
Library Managers Interest Group pointed the Group
toward the 2008-09 year and asked all to consider,
in cooperation with the Academic and Public Library
Sections:


heading up the creation and maintenance of a mentoring
program for new library managers and
assisting in the creation and maintenance of a mentoring
program for new librarians.
A Timeline
On July 17, 2008, the LLA Academic Libraries
Section Liaison with ACRL-LA

received a general listserv reminder from the ACRL-LA
President that “ACRL-LA is currently working on building a
state-wide mentorship program for academic librarians … to
provide a network of support, encouragement, and continuing
education for all librarians, especially those who are new to
the profession”
A Timeline
On July 17, 2008, the LLA Academic Libraries
Section Liaison with ACRL-LA


remembered that the Louisiana Library Network had issued a
call for presenters at the October LOUIS Users Conference,
including ones on “Starting a Mentoring Program for New
Librarians,” and
suggested to the ACRL President that, through its members
who wear both ACRL-LA and LALINC hats, ACRL-LA might
want to make a LUC presentation on its nascent mentorship
program, with the result that….
A Timeline
ACRL-LA and LLA Academic Libraries joined in the
making of such a presentation…today’s presentation!
A Timeline
On August 27-28, 2008, the LLA Academic Libraries
Section and Library Managers Interest Group linked
up with the 2008-09 LLA Membership Committee,
which had begun discussion of how “a mentoring
program would help in getting new librarians to join
LLA”….
A Timeline
….to begin planning how representatives from LLA
Academic Libraries, Membership, Public Libraries,
School Libraries, and Library Managers could unite,
plan, and propose to the LLA Executive Board…
A Timeline
“a considered, continuing program for the mentoring
of Louisiana librarians (both those new to the
profession and those who have been promoted and/or
moved to new positions), to begin as soon as possible
(perhaps as early as January) and be managed by the
Membership Committee (whose mission is to
encourage Louisiana librarians to join and remain in
LLA),” including coordination with ACRL-LA “an
effort to avoid duplicate, competing programs as
concerns Louisiana's academic libraries”
A Timeline
On September 8, 2008, today’s presenters met,
shared information … including ACRL-LA’s initial
finding that two-thirds of its “new” librarians have
no interest in a “mentor” … tossed around ideas,
and concluded that more information and
suggestions are needed to determine


if the Louisiana library community in fact has a need for a
mentorship program and
if there is such a need, what should be the nature and scope of
such a program.
What Can Be Gleaned from the Timeline?
 Efforts to provide “mentoring” services to librarians
are not at all new.
 A librarian’s need for a mentor arises when her/his
library career is in transition as much as when the
established librarian is learning a new skill, as when
the newly minted librarian is entering the
profession.
What Can Be Gleaned from the Timeline?
 A librarian may also on occasion need confidential,
unbiased advice in dealing with a workplace issue/crisis
not at all connected with any career transition.
 The terms “mentoring” and “mentor” may be
unnecessarily limiting and have a negative connotation
for some “mentees,” who may chafe at the suggestion
that, though professionals, they still need a “guide” …
perhaps, “conferring” and “colleague” are better terms
(“Conferring with a Colleague”).
What Can Be Gleaned from the Timeline?
 To be successful, any mentoring/advising
program must be:
Need-generated - what do our colleagues need, not what
do we think they need
 Well-planned - but not so over-planned the program dies
from inaction
 Realistic - the goal should be to have effective
mentoring/advising available when needed – not all
mentors/advisors will be engaged all the time (not being
busy is a good thing) and not all mentors/advisors will
prove helpful (so assign another one)

Sharing the Mentoring Vision
Such are the issues the Louisiana Library Association
is wrestling with as it moves to establish a
mentoring/advising program for its members … in
league with ACRL-LA.
Question & Answer Time!
Contacting Us
 Rob Bremer: [email protected]
 Mike Matthews: [email protected]
 Megan Lowe: [email protected]
 LLA: http://www.llaonline.org
 ACRL-LA: http://www.acrlla.org/
Thanks for coming!
PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO CONTACT US
WITH QUESTIONS, CONCERNS,
SUGGESTIONS!
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!