Mentoring Opportunities
for
Cincinnati Chapter
Special Libraries Association Members
Mentoring is a highly important educational facet for anyone learning the ways of a new profession. Library school classes or actually working in a library may not be enough to survive in the profession. Mentors help ease students into the ways of the profession. Mentors can help bring out the joy and excitement of why we're doing what we're doing in the first place! It is an experience that should be taken advantage of by both students and professionals.
Mentoring relationships exist for many reasons, not just for student to professional relationships. For instance, a "seasoned" professional may mentor a "newbie" professional, or even vice-versa. Or experienced SLA volunteers may mentor new SLA volunteers. Mentoring relationships may also take on many different forms. They can be official and unofficial. With all of today's convenient technologies, you do not have to live in the same town as your mentor/mentee. The main idea with mentoring relationships is that we all have something to learn from each other, no matter what experience levels may be. Give it a shot! You might be surprised by what you'll get out of it!
If you would like further explanation on mentoring, or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Mentoring chair, Anne Abate. Links to the mentor/mentee forms are below.
Please send completed mentee/mentor forms by email or postal mail to the Mentoring chair:
Anne Abate
Southwest Ohio and Neighboring Libraries (SWON)
10815 Indeco Drive, Suite 200
Cincinnati, OH 45241-2926
Tel: (513) 751-4422/Fax: (513) 751-0463
Email: anne@swonlibraries.org
The SLA Business and Finance Division has also put forth great efforts in mentoring through its Mentoring Initiative. Potential mentor/protégé applications may be searched online to members through a password protected site. The Business and Finance Division also offers a mentoring bibliography as a tool for mentors/mentees.
Mentoring Resources
SLA: