Mentoring Program

Purpose:

The Mentoring Program links SIS students with practicing professionals in a specific area of librarianship or information sciences that matches their interest. The program also provides alumni and non-alumni working professionals the opportunity to share their knowledge, network with energetic and eager students, and to get to know the curriculum and program at SIS better.

Contact Tanya Arnold for more information about the SIS Mentoring Program.

Process:

Mentors will be assigned a student for one academic year (from September to August).
Mentors will make the first contact and establish the means of communication that works best for everyone.
Mentors and students will be matched shortly after the beginning of fall classes.
An evaluation process will occur toward the end of the assignment.
A "Mentoring Bank" is available online, whereby a student can view potential mentors and sort them by their position and location (but not contact info). This will allow interested students to self-select a mentor, and the committee will make a match, if appropriate.
Mentors will be kept on an active list to mentor each year unless they notify the school.

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Mentors:

This program invites mentors to work at a distance, as well as locally, and invites non-alumni professionals to participate, as well as School alumni. When possible, mentors should invite their student (or mentee) to visit their worksite and encourage the student through contact made in person, by phone or via email. Listed below are activities that a mentor could provide a student:

Allow on-site visits so student can become familiar with the work environment.
Discuss class work and projects with students.
Suggest professional articles that may interest the student.
Allow student access to appropriate materials in the collection to help complete a class project. For example a student might examine a portion of your shelf list in order to analyze a collection.
Invite students to participate in activities that they might find of interest at your workplace. In a school setting a student might work on a project with a small group of children.

Students:

This is an opportunity for you to experience a real life work situation. It is important that you conduct yourself in a professional manner.

Make sure you keep scheduled appointments or call if you are unable to keep an appointment.
Inform your mentor about what type of experiences you would like to be involved in and how much time you will be spending at the site.
Discuss project that you would like to do on site. The student should be sure to have explicit permission to use data or information.
Follow up visits with a letter of thanks. This could be done at the end of a semester if you will be visiting often.
The student should understand that this is a mentoring experience. The experience should not be viewed as a job opportunity or a source of references.

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