Do as I do

Mentoring - learning by association with a relevant role model - is going on all over the place as a valuable part of CPD in the library and information profession. But some of it is more informal than others. Biddy Fisher gives an overview of recent developments and in the following articles (linked left) we look at examples of mentoring activity.

After the flurry of interest in mentoring as a development tool for the library and information profession, one could have expected a hush to have descended as converts got on with it, others deposited the idea and waited for a suitable time to employ it, or some simply discarded it. However, the current interest is just as strong. Two LA UmbrelLA conferences, a British Library research project, Library Association training courses run by Gill Burrington and numerous organisational initiatives bear witness to the fact that mentoring is a live and vibrant issue in continuing personal development. My purpose here is to bring to readers' attention some developments since the publication of Mentoring. ¹

General developments

It is always possible to take what is happening in the literature as a positive indication of what is happening in a particular area.

Mentoring is no exception to this and there have been 69 books on the general application of mentoring published since 1990 as well as articles too numerous to count. The usual suspects are there, including David Clutterbuck and David Megginson, but an increasing number of analytical articles and case studies have appeared which make good reading. The Industrial Society continues to review and survey the use of mentoring and, as other professions adopt mentoring within Continuing Professional Development (CPD), their literature expands too. Focused articles, particularly for ethnic minorities and women, have appeared, as well as the more usual 'new to management' or 'new entrant' themes.

For anyone making a first foray into the literature, I recommend the Institute of Management database and Web page at http://www.inst-mgt.org.uk, and a new publication by Bob Norton and Jill Tivey from the Institute of Management. ²

Mentoring on the Internet

What is even more dynamic is the use of the Internet for identifying mentoring resources (54,090 entries at my last search in mid-August). Not only can you find details of organisations which use mentoring, but, and this is a North American but, there are also mentoring services available, online, via the Internet. So if you are not able to find your own mentor, there is a group in California and another in Vancouver who can try to find one for you. This totally supports my own theory that the first step in mentoring for any prot&eacutegé is just like that of dating. ³ Find your own or go to an agency!

Library and information sector mentoring

Three more specifically library-related uses of mentoring are that of the Michigan Library Association (MLA), the UK-based Library and Information Research Group and a British Library-funded project at the Robert Gordon University. The MLA uses mentors to help new conference delegates feel welcome. The old-timers are matched, through professional interests, to newcomers, and it is expected that this relationship will last through several conferences. Cofhe has always encouraged this approach but anyone interested can contact the MLA for further details.

The use of mentoring for those who are new to a situation has to be one of the most common applications. At Sheffield Hallam University we have recently set up 'buddy mentors' for a group of staff new to a particular work environment. Having someone to talk to who has already gone through a particular process is very useful as you can share confidences about competencies without losing face with the trainer or your manager.

The Library and Information Research Group has had a similar initiative. The change from undergraduate or taught postgraduate work can be quite startling. Suddenly finding that you are one of one instead of one of several in a peer group of students can be isolating. In order to overcome this feeling Clare Nankivell (Centre for Information Research and Training (CIRT), University of Central England) has begun the process of organising a group of would-be mentors for those starting out on a research project or degree. Starting necessarily small, the initiative should assist those for whom the support of friends and colleagues is sorely missed. Mentors in this scheme will assist in guiding new researchers through many of the day-to-day or month-to-month developments of a research project. Timescales seem so much longer when the discipline of a timetable and regular attendance at university classes is missing.

British Library research

To see mentoring listed as a methodology for a research project was intriguing. The project in question was funded by the British Library Research and Innovation Centre and led by Jane Farmer of the School of Information and Media, the Robert Gordon University. It set out to investigate and identify a framework for the transferable skills of information professionals. A strategy for the development of a mentoring relationship was outlined for those who were taking part in the project and it was centred on a series of meetings which included work shadowing and discussion. The focus of the initiative was to observe and share work experiences and thus identify key skills and attributes used in the workplace. These key skills would form the framework of generic and transferable skills.

By comparison with the resulting framework, information professionals could identify their own skills, use it for positive action in skills development and thus further their career development. The outcome was seen to be particularly useful for the solo information professionals in special or small information units. These professionals can find CPD more difficult than those working in larger departments where interaction with peers and colleagues with similar professional interests can sometimes be taken for granted.

The major research into the use of mentoring in the LIS sector is outlined by Clare Nankivell in a briefing article complementary to this overview (see p. 543). The original impetus for this research came from the Personnel, Training and Education Group (PTEG) which was begun after the publication of Mentoring. There has been significant interest shown in the research report4 and the follow-up work on the case study analysis and the guidelines (also outlined in this review, p. 544) is currently under construction by Keith Trickey and Sue Tuffin. PTEG will continue to promote the use of mentoring within the sector.

Future indications

It is disappointing that so little organisational support was found for mentoring in our sector, but it would also be worth comparing the result of that particular issue in about five years time. If the literature is any benchmark, there is likely to be far more going on in 2001 than the time of the survey - 1996.

However, the high profile that mentoring has had at the LA's two UmbrelLA conferences in 1995 and 1997, and the high-volume discussion which took place in my own session at the latter, proves that mentoring is being used. Role models are easily identified and, even if we are not calling this process mentoring, something is happening which looks and feels and sounds like it.

Are we, as a profession, sceptical about this form of help and guidance? Are our structures, as Jo Norry indicates, too hierarchical for us to use mentoring formally? Are we not inter-personally skilled enough to be competent mentors? Or is it a matter of time?

I believe that the profession is full of mentors and people who have benefited and are benefiting from this particular development activity. I would like to invite anyone who is currently using mentoring formally to tell me about their organisation's scheme and how it has come about. The examples I have given above are all those in which being new is seen as something which someone who is used to a situation, organisation or gathering can help with. The sharing of experience is the common feature of most mentoring.

Our profession is one of several which understand that mentoring can be a

valuable part of the experience of professional practice, and that the encouragement of supervisors to mentor candidates en route to Chartered status is just one of the ways in which we can make mentoring happen. n

References

1 Fisher, Biddy. Mentoring (Library Training Guides). Library Association Publishing, 1994.

2 Norton, B. & Tivey, J. Mentoring (Management Directions). Oxford, Institute of Management, 1997.

3 Fisher, Biddy. 'Mentoring Post Publication: permission to call it by name'. Librarian Career Development 5 (2) 1997, pp 52-56.

4 Nankivell, C. & Shoolbred, M. Mentoring in Library and Information Services: an approach to staff support (British Library Research and Innovation Report 20). British Library Research and Innovation Centre, 1996.

Biddy Fisher is Head of Academic Services and Development, Sheffield Hallam University Learning Centre.

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