Personal Narrative: My Role As A Mentor

Being part of a library means you spend your time helping others and sharing knowledge for a specific reason requested, whether you are assisting a patron or a colleague. One of the primary goals of being a part of a library, whether it is public, academic, special, or other types, is to be able to freely share information, resources, and access with people across the spectrum, regardless of who they are. In addition to these aspects being a part of our job, we respect the notion of learning and continually advocate reaching out to everyone possible in order to provide these resources. Personally, I have not participated in a mentorship program, but with my library system, newly hired managers will be often assigned a veteran in their position as a mentor. While I do not have personal experience to share, I know that from listening to others, having a mentor relieves a lot of tension and stress with the idea that you must “know it all” right off the bat. For example, for new managers, they will be provided a manual put together and updated by other library managers in the system the covers policies and procedures, information about the city and neighborhoods, various contact information, and general tips and how-to’s for certain situations.

Based on our readings and from I …show more content…
Many of our front-line staff, from clerks to librarians, would benefit from having someone they can rely on for inquiries that are more than supervisory responses. From my personal experience, I began at a public library as a volunteer five years ago and worked my way up, but I made sacrifices along the way to make opportunities happen. I believe many of my colleagues in the system are uncertain about how they can grow and develop in the library, thus having that mentor they can share concerns with would be highly