Mentoring When Librarians Have Faculty Status

Abstract

Numerous academic libraries participate in their campuses' systems for faculty status for librarians, in separate tracks or identical tracks as those for teaching faculty. In either case, a practice is to encourage or require mentoring for librarians without tenure or permanent status. This chapter will cover the special challenges and benefits of mentoring and faculty status, the need for mentoring, and processes for best practices to make mentoring meaningful for all involved. The chapter will draw on the authors' experiences, an environmental scan, a survey of selected institutional practice where librarians have faculty status, and published research and related literature. It will also feature mentoring programs developed by various institutions, including the University of Maryland Libraries.

Designing a mentoring program for faculty librarians

“…Hicks et al (2010) supported the view that the role of the supervisor was at cross-purposes with mentoring and that there was the potential for direct conflict between these roles. Similar advice was given in the Novara et al (2010) article; they explicitly stated the purposeful lack of involvement of the supervisor and advised against supervisor involvement. In the Lorenzetti and Powelson (2015) scoping review study, four out of the 40 libraries specifically stipulated that the supervisor could not play the role of mentor since that might inhibit risk-taking and forthright communication.…”

“…Mentors and mentees must be able to work well together and have mutually understood goals. If not, there needs to be a process for finding a better match (Novara et al, 2010). If the pairing is not mutually beneficial or if they are not invested in the relationship, it cannot be successful (Goodsett and Walsh, 2015).…”