Last year, I worked with the Central New York Library Resources Council to create a Mentoring Toolkit for its members. The toolkit is also available for others to use. In the toolkit are the following documents:
- What Is Mentoring?
- Common Questions From Mentors
- Common Questions From Mentees
- Mentoring Memo Of Understanding
- Mentoring Activities
In addition, several resources were purchased for their members to use. All are available through your local library or for purchase through a bookstore.
One thing that really stood out to me, as we researched mentoring, is that the ball is in the mentee’s court. The mentee — the one being mentored — is the person who should ask for mentor, who should schedule the meetings, and who should be in the driver’s seat. That does not always occur. Often a mentee will look to the mentor to drive the relationship, which is not that person’s role.
While working on this, I was also mentoring someone and I found myself changing the relationship. I decided that I would be there when the mentee needed me, but that it wasn’t my role to lead the relationship. If a mentee is serious about being mentored, and if the relationship is set up properly, then the mentee should feel comfortable being in the lead.
I hope you’ll take a look at the resources. They were constructed for use by library staff members in a wide range of libraries — libraries just like yours.