ACL Mentoring Program

Things to Consider As Your Mentoring Relationship Begins:

• Acceptance of one another
• Committment
• Prayer (during the meetings and in your personal prayer time)
• Preparation (come ready with any "homework" completed)
• Punctuality (arrive on time)
• Agree upon and work toward specific goals
• Honest communication
• Take the initiative to contact your mentor or mentee if something arises
• Deal effectively with conflicting views, unmet expectations, or objectives

Things to Think About Before Your 1st Meeting:

• Your goals
• Your background (how did you become a librarian?)
• What you hope to gain from the mentorship
• What you have to offer
• Questions for your mentor/mentee

Image source: Image by storyset on Freepik

• BEFORE YOUR FIRST MEETING, create a list of what you would like to get out of this mentorship and learn from your mentor/mentee. It's great to learn from each other!
• Both introduce yourselves and get comfortable with each other. Consider sharing the following about yourself:
  • How did you become a librarian
  • Job experience
  • Education experience
  • Personal and professional strengths
  • Areas of librarianship you would like to learn more about/improve upon (both mentees and mentors)
  • Hobbies/fun fact about yourself
• If you have time during your first meeting, start working together to create some goals for your mentorship meetings. If there is not time, make it your first priority at your next meeting--these goals should guide your future meetings.

The Mentoring Loop*

To be successful, mentors and mentees are encouraged to follow the Mentorship Loop. "A repeatable habit of preparedness will help make your time together more effective. Mentors are largely responsible for leading this."

• Prepare for your session by agreeing upon topics in advance
• Meet for your session and discuss topics
• Track progress on your sessions

*Use the agenda template in the Tools box for help following this structure for your meetings.

Goal Progress

At your first or second meeting, the mentor and mentee should have worked together to come up with some goals to guide their partnership. Start each meeting with an update on how the goals are progressing and identify the next steps towards completing the goal.

Q&A

Mentees are encouraged to foster discussion by preparing and questions during your regularly scheduled meetings. Take some time at each meeting to go over mentee's questions. For question ideas, you can see the Mentorship Resources tab for some suggestions.

Source: Reeves, Matthew. “An Unbeatable Mentoring Framework to Guide Your Program.” Together Platform, Together Inc., 20 Oct. 2022, https://www.togetherplatform.com/blog/mentoring-framework.

Mentees:

• Express gratitude to the mentor for their time and contribution to your progress. 
• Tell your mentor what goals you have accomplished with their help.
• Suggest maintaining contact on an informal level.
• Offer to contact your mentor periodically with updates. Then follow through!
• Ask for suggestions for future goals.
• Write a personal thank you note and send it to your mentor within two days after your last session.

Mentors:

• Set expectations of your relationship moving forward.
• Acknowledge progress and growth in the mentee.
• Recognize the challenges your mentee has faced or overcame.
• Help your mentee set goals for the future.
• Ask your mentee to identify how they will accomplish their future goals.

Source: “How to End a Mentoring Relationship.” SLAS Connect, SLAS Global Headquarters, 2023, https://connected.slas.org/mentormatch/mentor-resources/leaving-a-mentor.