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ALA Emerging Leadership 2008: Group K
Reference & User Services Association Mentoring Program Proposal
Recommendations for Creating a Sustainable Program for Mentoring Members of RUSA
A Report Submitted to the Reference & User Services Association at the 2008 American Library Association Annual Conference, Anaheim, CA
June 26-July 2nd, 2008
Reference & User Services Association Mentoring Program Proposal
Recommendations for Creating a Sustainable Program for Mentoring Members of RUSA
Introduction
This report serves as a preliminary planning tool to assist the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American Library Association (ALA) in the establishment of a sustainable mentoring program. The members of the 2008 Emerging Leaders program (Group K) consisting of Derik Badman, Latanya N. Jenkins, Crystal Renfro, and Patrick Sweeney outline important guidelines, procedures, and practices that will facilitate in the creation of a successful RUSA mentoring program.
In this document, mentoring terms will be defined, and a short historical background of the conceptualization of Group K's project will illustrate the need for a mentoring program for RUSA. Mentoring activities will be clearly defined via the stated goals and objectives for the program, and the research practices to assess the needs of the association for the mentoring program will be described in the methods section. Results of a survey sent to all RUSA members will culminate in the project team's recommendations for RUSA to ensure that this program will have enduring value for all participants as well as the association.
History
The 2007 Emerging Leaders Group A was assigned the project of working with the newly formed RUSA Task Force on Membership Recruitment to identify strategies for marketing the division to its new members. Group A was to provide input and evaluate strategies already identified by the organization, as well as to develop new initiatives to more effectively market the division to young professionals. This group identified mentoring as an essential focus for RUSA and their recommendation to explore establishing a mentoring program became the charge to the 2008 Emerging Leaders (Group K).
Programming Goals & Objectives
GOALS FOR GROUP PROJECT
1. To gather input from a wide cross-section of RUSA membership regarding their interest in a mentoring program and what such a program should entail2. To provide RUSA with information about what mentorship is and what it offers to both the organization and the participants
3. To propose one way such a program could operate within RUSA
GOALS FOR PROPOSED MENTORING PROGRAM
1. To provide additional networking opportunities for RUSA members2. To encourage and to develop increased participation within RUSA, not only for this program but also within other committees
3. To facilitate the exchange of expertise between RUSA members with differing areas of knowledge and experience
4. To support the development of library professionals in their careers
5. To provide an enriching professional experience
6. To re-energize professionals and to spark increased enthusiasm in their work through the process of building a relationship with another librarian
Definitions
A mentor is defined by Merriam Webster as a "trusted counselor or guide". Within the context of the proposed RUSA mentoring program, a mentor is a RUSA member who is motivated to provide guidance and support as a resource not only to a new librarian or library science student in the early years of his or her professional development, but also as a support resource for seasoned professional librarians. In this regard, a mentee is a library science student and/or librarian who seeks to establish a professional relationship with an experienced RUSA member who can help the mentee negotiate many of the challenges encountered during the early years of their professional life. Mentees are ALA members and preferably RUSA members who have an interest in becoming actively involved in their professional organizations.
The benefits of such a program include the potential for reverse/ mutual mentoring, where those new to librarianship can share their experiences with seasoned librarians. One vital objective of the program is to ensure that both mentor and mentee find the relationship beneficial for themselves and can form lasting networks beneficial to RUSA.
Methods
The primary steps in investigating mentoring activities entailed seeking past and current programs in order to ascertain what positive attributes of past successes in mentoring programs were. The group began by investigating library professional and state associations with mentoring programs then moved on to library school mentoring programs and academic library mentoring programs. Next, a literature search in each respective area was completed. Finally, Emerging Leaders Group K identified the membership attributes for involvement with mentoring activities through the distribution of a survey.
Review of Library Mentoring Programs
While some of the library mentor programs hosted by national associations appeared to be inactive, the programs that have strong participation (like the American Library Association’s New Member Round Table) have a mentoring committee devoted to its visibility through their dedication to creating and maintaining information packets, websites, booths, and distributing magazine articles and mailers to new librarians as well as new members of the of the association. There is a great deal of information available via their website; for instance, there are mentoring guidelines available and the organization also plans and hosts a number activities; like, online discussions, conference mentoring, and career mentoring. Additionally, there is an online application for both mentors and mentees. The committee within the organization ensures that the program is maintained and marketed. On the state association level mentoring programs appear to be less formal with very limited amounts of information about their mentoring programs.
Both formal and informal library school mentoring programs, on the other hand, work collaboratively through their regions[1], utilize the strength of their alumni and faculty in mentoring, and/or partner with local chapters of national associations to keep their mentoring programs active. These groups also have a web presence with program information. Some of the informal programs had a contact person, who could provide further information on programming availability. Some of the academic library mentor programs’ websites provide the mission of their programs and provide guidelines with additional readings.[2]
Survey Findings
A survey was taken of current RUSA members to ascertain the interest in a mentoring program and to obtain feedback on the possible structure and content such a program might offer. While respondents were predominately from academic libraries (66%) they were also from a wide range of experience levels from 0-2 year (26%) up to 20+ years (24%).
Of the 98 respondents, an overwhelming 72% expressed an interest in participating in a RUSA mentoring program. The respondents were split (53% yes, 47% no) on whether participation should be limited to RUSA members, and, while 39% considered matching participants within sections (i.e., BRASS to BRASS, MARS to MARS) to be important, over half (53%) felt that a match need not be limited by section. The majority (69%) wanted a long-term (or a formal, one year) program and 76% welcomed the idea of mentoring an unemployed library school student.
The concept of mutual/reverse mentoring--where the mentoring relationship would be bi-directional--was embraced by 71% of respondents, making it clear that both mentor and mentee participants would be eager to learn from each other. Several potential mentors referred to gaining increased enthusiasm in their career after participating in similar programs and saw the mentoring relationship as an opportunity to share "strategies for surviving as a professional."
Mentoring program
The proposed Mentoring Program for RUSA members would provide a structured venue for library professionals to partner with experienced RUSA members for a one year period during which support, guidance, and professional networking would take place. The relationship would offer the opportunity for collaborative mentoring where mentor and mentee could share with each other the insights and expertise that each bring to the experience. At best, the program would produce meaningful professional connections between members that will help keep RUSA vital in the coming years.
Mentoring Program Structure
Based on survey feedback, we recommend that pairs are allowed to match themselves by utilization of a database of informative applications from mentors and mentees interested in participating in the program.
We recommend that the program open with an orientation meeting and reception for pairs at the annual meeting. This would allow both parties to meet and to discuss with the larger group of participants how to make this new partnership the most effective for all involved. Graduates from the previous year's program would also be invited back for a wrap-up event and could be available to provide feedback on their successful Mentoring Program experiences.
Mentors and mentees agree to engage in conversation at least once a month, and the pairs would receive monthly emails from the RUSA Mentoring committee with a new suggested discussion topic to help spark interactions.
program Marketing plan
With the understanding that the financial and personal resources of RUSA are limited the program must be marketed to ensure that enough mentors and mentees apply to participate in the program. This means that RUSA must be creative in its marketing attempts. Luckily, due to the structure of RUSA as well as the ALA, there are a number of low cost (in time, money, and effort) ways to market such a program. We will outline a number of possibilities. These recommendations are merely for use by RUSA. Those suggestions that are deemed manageable by the RUSA organization should be utilized and anything else can be used when the resources are available. Many of these suggestions could be possible projects for next year's emerging leaders, thus saving costs while promoting RUSA's new program.
1) Utilize the listservs. There are a number of listservs both within RUSA and throughout the ALA, as well as some school, professional, and independent listservs. While not all of them reflect the RUSA organization they may still be utilized to inform people of new programs such as mentorship opportunities. It is therefore important that the Mentoring committee take the time to review the opportunities here.
2) Articles in professional publications. As the program begins to gear up, it is possible that RUSA could designate an issue of "Reference and User Services Quarterly" to the articles pertaining to the importance of mentorship. For example, articles written by RUSA members who have participated in mentorship programs in the past, or research articles that present the benefits of mentorship programs to the mentors as well as the mentees.
3) Flyers and handouts. Well designed flyers, posters, and handouts can begin to solidify the idea of a mentorship program within RUSA. These flyers can be sent to MLIS schools and major library systems. A logo for branding purposes would be advantageous in creating an identity for the program.
4) Mentorship videos and podcasts. Videos can be argued to be the new online medium and RUSA should take advantage of this marketing media. New RUSA members are inundated with text based information as they begin to learn and understand the professional environment. Also, more experienced RUSA members could suffer from text-information overload and video commercials could help to alleviate the problem of listserv and email presentations going unread.
5) Word of mouth and buy-in. Conferences, meetings, and various gatherings of professionals can be important opportunities to present the newest RUSA program. As such, it is especially important that RUSA officers take the time to mention the programs and services of RUSA at every opportunity presented to them. This means that RUSA officers must have buy-in in the program and that they must consciously make the decision to speak about it whenever they get the chance.
6) Exhibits, presentations. While possibly difficult to do the first year, it might be possible to present a panel discussion at a conference related to the mentorship program. Also, while "gearing up" for the first year of the program RUSA could hold a panel discussion concerning the benefits of professional mentorships and its relation to better user services from library professionals with more resources at their fingertips due to their experiences in a mentoring program.
7) Websites and social networking. There are a number of websites and web 2.0 sites that encourage the grouping of likeminded individuals. In fact, there are groups of reference librarians on almost all of the larger ones; such as, Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, etc... Therefore, it would be possible to utilize these groupings to send out information about the mentorship program directly to reference librarians who might not yet be members of RUSA.
This list is in no way meant to be a complete record of marketing ideas for the RUSA mentoring program, but it is expected that the best ideas for program sustainability should be used. The RUSA Mentoring committee can determine what techniques are best and most economical at the time.
Mentoring Program Costs
Funding requirements for this program could be limited to the cost of the reception and possible associated orientation/training session. This reception is envisioned to be of a casual nature with modest food choices such as cheese and fruit or a desert tray. A small incidental budget for items such as name tags, promotional flyers and perhaps a door prize is also suggested.
Recommendations to RUSA
We propose a Mentoring program for RUSA that could be administered on a perpetual basis. The program would be widely advertised each spring on appropriate listservs and RUSA publications with directions on how to begin the application process. Mentors and mentees would then be matched. Many other successful mentoring programs achieve this matching by committee members who carefully review each application and match mentors and mentees based on common interests and availability. Results from our survey, however, indicate that RUSA members would prefer to match themselves by means of a database of informative applications from mentors and mentees interested in participating in the program. A description of one such application, the Ning social network is described in more detail later in this report.
An onsite orientation meeting and reception for matched pairs would be planned for the ALA Annual meeting. This would allow mentor and mentee to meet face-to-face and to discuss with the larger group of participants how to make this new partnership the most effective for all involved. Graduates from the previous year's program would also be invited back for a wrap-up event and could be available to provide feedback on their successful Mentoring Program experiences.