{"id":328,"date":"2010-01-31T20:25:07","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T01:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/?p=328"},"modified":"2010-01-31T20:31:50","modified_gmt":"2010-02-01T01:31:50","slug":"finding-a-mentor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/archives\/328","title":{"rendered":"Finding a Mentor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mentor\/Mentee 101:\u00c2\u00a0 Developing a Career Essential Relationship\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is this month\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s topic for ALA\/NMRT (New Members Round Table) listserv. One of the contributors to the discussion mentioned the experience of unclear expectations on both a mentor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and a mentee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side. I was sending a reply to this discussion Friday, but the listserv didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let my email through. So I failed in posting my reply. But it got me thinking a bit about mentoring in librarianship.<\/p>\n

I think having a mentor can be of great help for new librarians. \u00c2\u00a0But not all librarians necessarily need official mentors. Often new librarians can rely on their supervisors or other colleagues as their unofficial mentors. \u00c2\u00a0This approach works best at a large organization where a new librarian can find experienced colleagues with similar interests to hers\/his. But I also heard about situations where colleagues tend to hoard knowledge rather than sharing. Also for a new librarian who works as a solo-librarian or at a small library where each librarian specializes in a different field, participating in a mentoring program can be quite valuable.<\/p>\n

I suspect that a mentoring relationship through emails between two librarians who do not know each other and work at different organizations would be inevitably less strong than between those who know each other well and work at the same place. On the other hand, via email, mentors and mentees can discuss any questions and issues without worrying about the local context and\/or, sometimes, politics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Everywehre Questions<\/p><\/div>\n

(Image from Flickr: http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1098\/1404539812_16fdf956d0.jpg<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

I count myself lucky having found a great mentor through the first mentoring program I participated in<\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0I was paired with a mentor whose work is very similar in nature to mine. Common interests make it easy to start a conversation. One thing I excel at is asking questions. I may not necessarily understand answers, but I ask a lot of questions. Often I got illuminating answers, which come from my mentor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s experience. And those answers helped me understand certain things that at first glance looked strange or downright irrational to me. So if I have one recommendation for new librarians in mentoring relationship, that would be to ask lots of questions without worrying about whether they are\u00c2\u00a0 stupid or inappropriate. At what other times would one be free to ask such questions if not when a new librarian?<\/p>\n

My expectation for the mentoring program was relatively simple — to find someone experienced who can give me advice about things I have difficulty in understanding, not so much about career development or skill sharing. \u00c2\u00a0So I am not sure how mentoring would workfor more experienced librarians with different kinds of expectations. But one thing I try to remember as a mentee is that mentoring is a big time investment for mentors. So I try to be specific, honest, and clear as much as possible when I ask questions via e-mail.<\/p>\n

I wonder when one graduates being a mentee and can begin to help others as a mentor. Maybe when there are less questions that strike one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mind everyday?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mentor\/Mentee 101:\u00c2\u00a0 Developing a Career Essential Relationship\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is this month\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s topic for ALA\/NMRT (New Members Round Table) listserv. One of the contributors to the discussion mentioned the experience of unclear expectations on both a mentor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and a mentee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side. I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[45],"tags":[46],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-librarianship","tag-mentor-mentoring-librarinship-new-librarian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2AlrP-5i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohyunkim.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}