Mentoring the Next Generation of School and Youth Services Librarians

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Gurus and Greenhorns -

Gurus and Greenhorns:

Mentoring the Next Generation of School and Youth Services Librarians

Presented at ALA Annual Conference 2007

Washington, D.C.

By Emerging Leaders 2007: Project Group K

Jeffrey DiScala

Sarah Krygier

Bethany Lafferty

Deborah Smith

Gurus and Greenhorns:

Mentoring the Next Generation of School and Youth Services Librarians

Introduction

Modern library services for young people offer many new adventures and challenges for new professionals in the field. Recent graduates and students of library programs have reported feeling overwhelmed and have expressed a desire for further guidance as they launch their careers. As a result, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and the American Association of school librarians (AASL) submitted a proposal for an Emerging Leaders project team to create a mentoring program for new professionals. The mentoring program, which YALSA and AASL would market to current graduate students and new members of the field, would serve as an introduction to the American Library Association (ALA) and the divisions of YALSA and AASL, inspiring new recruits to continue serving and contributing their talents to these professional organizations.

After performing a literature review, researching successful mentoring programs, and surveying current graduate students and new members in the field, the project team created a proposal for YALSA and AASL to use as a guide for the creation of the desired mentoring program. This proposal analyzes the specific needs of the mentoring program to fill the aforementioned needs. Using the information gleaned from the literature review and research, the proposal makes recommendations for the organization and operation of the program. Also included is a proposal for an advertising campaign and evaluation mechanism.

Stakeholders

The Committee identified four main groups of stakeholders in this mentorship project: mentees, mentors, ALA, YALSA and AASL, as well as an additional community of individuals who will indirectly benefit from the program.

Mentees

Mentees include young adult (YA) and school librarians who have been in the field for less than five years. We have defined “librarian” as individuals who have earned a Master’s in Library and Information Science (MLIS), accredited by the ALA, and/or the appropriate credential to be certified as a school media specialist in their state. While some librarians operate without a master’s degree, this program strives to provide an added incentive for library workers to complete an accredited master’s program and to encourage libraries and school districts across the country to continue to hire only degreed librarians. Additionally, many students in library school have access to mentorship and career guidance programs that new professionals do not. These criteria do not, however, aim to exclude those currently enrolled in a library school program from participating. The project committee agrees, however, that mentees can better benefit from professional guidance when they have already completed their masters’ degree and begun their professional employment.

In her article, “Integrating the New Librarian into Your Library,” Debbie Schachter states that new employees benefit tremendously from external mentorship programs (Schachter, 2006). External mentorship programs, such as the one proposed here, offer professional guidance without placing an undue burden on current employers. While internal mentoring offers its benefits as well, having the opportunity to interact with those outside one’s own place of employment provides a greater sense of community and commitment to the library profession as a whole.

Mentors

This project plan defines mentors as information professionals with experience as YA Librarians or School Library Media Specialists (LMS) that have at least five years of experience in the field, are active within ALA and/or a state organization for at least three years, and hold an MLIS and/or school library media specialist certificate. This plan requires that the mentors play an active role in these respective organizations to ensure that they have the skills necessary to educate new librarians about the structure and benefits of professional organizations and the ability to offer advice on how to become involved. Mentors benefit from their service by having the opportunity to give back to a community that has supported them, by providing guidance and advice that they themselves may have found lacking and will likely also learn something for themselves when they serve as volunteers.

American Library Association

While this program will focus on allowing mentees to play an active role in the profession, the Association will benefit as well. After mentees have completed the mentorship program and have increased their familiarity with both the profession and professional organizations, they will likely have a greater tendency to participate within ALA and its various divisions.

Community At-Large

This segment of stakeholders includes future employers and library customers. Employers will benefit from employees who actively seek to improve their knowledge of the profession and will most likely provide some form of support for the employee’s professional development. Library customers will also benefit from having highly skilled librarians at their service. Librarians who do not seek continuing education opportunities miss out on honing and learning new skills that veteran librarians have developed over time, thus the public will, in turn, miss out on having the best trained librarians available.

History

The project team intends for YALSA and AASL to adopt this mentorship program. In 2005, YALSA instituted a trial mentorship program that ran for one year. According to an article in School Library Journal discussing YALSA’s prior program (Whalen, 2004), the division chose to aim its mentorship program towards librarians with less than three years of experience, offering career guidance, networking, outreach, and general advice to those with a focus on at-risk youth. YALSA’s Division and Mentorship Promotion Committee managed the program. The mentors and mentees met once, at ALA Annual, after working with each other virtually for several months.

YALSA’s Board requested that the Division and Mentorship Committee discontinue the program and evaluate it before moving forward. The Committee completed its evaluation in October 2006. While YALSA deemed the program a success, the evaluations included the suggestion that the mentorship coordinator provide more direction throughout the course of the program. Participants also responded that they were unsure as to how often they should communicate with one another and through what means. Additionally, mentors felt that their mentees were already quite advanced in their careers to truly benefit from this particular program and suggested that the program target graduate students. At this time, the YALSA mentoring program is on hiatus.

This proposal targets new librarians with the desire to provide them with the opportunity to participate in a learning program, such as Emerging Leaders, as well as further training graduates who did not take courses in children’s or young adult librarianship while in library school. Students often receive a significant amount of guidance during library school, while new librarians report feeling lost and confused about the next step in both their jobs and the profession. The project committee also considered the suggestions from participants of the earlier YALSA program to match participants by location, specific field of interest, and career aspirations when designing this new program. The Committee recognizes the need to build upon the previous YALSA mentoring program by including specific goals and objectives and instituting requirements for participants. This will present a more stable and long-term option for YALSA and AASL.

Goals and Objectives

The purpose of creating a mentoring program is to provide guidance and resources to a new generation of professionals. While enrolled in a master’s degree program of Library and Information Science, aspiring librarians learn much theory and core practices of librarianship, yet many students miss out on the more practical, hands-on lessons of working in libraries. A well organized mentoring program will provide students and recent graduates with a platform for professional development to meet this need. Additionally, a well administered mentoring program, sponsored by divisions of ALA, will serve as an excellent introduction into professional organizations.

The key goals of this proposed mentoring program are as follows:

·  Participation in a formal, professional learning environment specializing in youth and school library services

·  Development of leadership and supervisory skills

·  Creation of new relationships and networks with youth services professionals

·  Continuing education opportunities

·  Involvement in professional organization(s)

·  Experienced professionals passing on their vast knowledge

Through achievement of the above goals, this proposal strives to provide a mutually beneficial professional development experience. Both mentors and mentees will reap the benefits of collaborative work and knowledge sharing. The plan will also include a framework for a solid management structure, to ensure consistent participation on the part of both mentor and mentee. Finally, participants of the mentoring program will be able to take back much of their learning to the libraries in which they work, thus sharing the wealth of knowledge they gain with co-workers.

Structure

A positive mentoring experience requires the establishment of certain functional provisions to ensure that all parties involved are aware of and agree upon specific criteria. One particularly useful resource in developing such criteria is the Mentor/National Mentoring Partnership (www.mentoring.org), an organization that matches children with mentors who will help them find the pathways to successful lives. This organization has researched and created the document Elements of Effective Practice, which outlines best practices for forming and maintaining a mentoring program. With this and other resources in mind, the project committee recommends that the new YALSA/AASL mentoring program incorporate the elements of Program Management, Cost Analysis, Recruitment, Application, Process, and Suggested Modes of Communication.

Program Management

Whether there exists a single moderator or a moderating body, the program must include a method for participants to redress grievances, receive counsel, and gain access to communication tools. The project committee strongly recommends that a governing body, rather than a single individual, administer this mentoring program. This management team should convene on a regular basis to review program operations.

YALSA and AASL will jointly implement the mentoring plan. Representatives from both divisions should manage the program to make certain the respective viewpoints of each division are represented. In order to pair participants most successfully, at least one expert in each specialty should serve on the management team. The team should communicate regularly in order to maintain a high quality program.

An expert in technology should also serve on the governing body. Due to enhancements in modern technology several options for mentors and mentees to communicate with each other exist. A technology expert will understand advances in technology, have the skills to create and manipulate communications technology, and troubleshoot communication utilized by the mentoring program. This individual will also create and maintain a central Web presence for the program.

Other tasks required of the management team include: matching mentors and mentees, protecting and maintaining records of participants, providing discussion topics, mediating conflict, distributing and compiling evaluations, planning and/or creating training workshops and orientation for mentors and mentees, organizing receptions at ALA Annual and Midwinter conferences, and finance management.

Cost Analysis

Prior to implementation of this program, the governing body should conduct a cost analysis to determine the financial feasibility of providing a national scale mentoring program. Areas of consideration include:

·  Length of mentoring program (i.e. how many years it will exist)

·  Resources provided by ALA

·  Advertising costs

·  Training workshops

·  Materials costs (i.e. program manuals)

·  Orientations and receptions for participants at ALA Annual and Midwinter

·  Future of technology

The results of a cost analysis may affect the magnitude of, and the services provided by, this program. A financial management system may become necessary if the governing body determines that the mentoring program requires significant funding.

Recruitment

Amongst the wide and varied library science community, there exist numerous places from which to recruit the program management team, mentors, and mentees. Prior to the initial year of the program, the governing body may choose to employ more selective methods of recruitment. The program should not take on more than it can handle in its first couple of years.

Members of the management team should come from the division membership of YALSA and AASL. Membership in the sponsoring divisions will signify a desire to contribute to, as well as benefit from, activities within the fields of YA and school librarianship. The management team will provide the role of mediator and be asked to offer topics for discussion. Achievement of these tasks will require seasoned professionals.

The current leadership of YALSA and AASL should extend personal invitations to members they believe demonstrate extensive experience and a high level of commitment to co-chair the management team. The team member that serves as the technology expert may not require as many years in the library profession, but more importantly, bring lengthy experience and enthusiasm within technology. Additional team members should include up-and-coming professionals to create a team that has a balance of experience and represents the diversity of participants within the mentoring program.

Program coordinators may find and recruit mentors through personal invitation and/or promotion. Advertisements may be placed in library and education journals, state, regional, or national library and school conferences, and via listservs for library and school organizations.

The coordinators may find mentees through institutions that provide ALA-accredited library and information programs. Many of these institutions use listservs and email to communicate with students. Also, these institutions tend to have ALA student chapters. University career placement services may also serve as a valuable resource for directing aspiring librarians and recent graduates to the mentoring program. After the initial years of the program, the governing body may consider a more rigorous recruitment process.

Application Process

Application packets for mentees will require a resume, letters of recommendation, a personal essay, and a questionnaire. Mentors will also be required to submit documented experience and accomplishments that prove their interest and commitment to providing quality youth services in libraries as well as the questionnaire. The application process will take into account personality, interests, experience, and career goals. Evaluations completed by participants in other mentoring programs have suggested that mentees be matched with mentors with similar goals and interests, and who live in the same geographic region. Below are sample questions to include in the questionnaires: