Paneling

I was honored to be asked to be on a panel about mentoring at a small library conference I’m attending this summer. One of the keynote speakers will be presenting a paper about mentoring, and after the paper, I will have four minutes to speak about my experiences. I am new to the library profession so I’m probably going to be speaking more about being mentored since I have not really mentored anyone.

Without having really looked at any of the research, I would say that a mentor is someone who offers their experience and advice to those who are still learning. Mentors/those being mentored can be any age, but usually the mentors have more experience.

When I think about a formal mentoring relationship, I would expect that a mentor (for me) would be someone that I could go to for advice about how I can be more successful at my job. It would be someone I respected and wanted to learn from. I should be able to go to this person with questions without feeling stupid or dumb for asking. Ideally, it should be someone outside of where I work, so that if sensitive issues arise, I would be able to talk with someone about the situation (without being gossipy) to help me figure out the best course for action (or inaction as the case may be).

In thinking about my experiences, I’ve realized that I have several people that I go to for advice and I’m lucky that I have many people like this in my life. All my relationships are more informal, but I know that no matter where I work, I would be able to go to these people for advise and wisdom on a variety of topics. It also helps to have someone to talk over ideas for solving problems as well as implementing really cool new ideas. The wisdom of experience can offer a pragmatic reality check. Definitely handy for countering potential problems.

I’m curious… how many people would say that they have a mentor or that they have mentored someone? Was it a positive experience?

I would hazard to guess that the experience is almost always positive, but I’m guessing also that some people have had some bad experiences as well.