So, this post is going to be about my experiences of mentoring in the library world. Before I go onto that though, I wanted to say a word or two about all the people in the information world, not just those who have a specific supporting role.
Writing my, admittedly mammoth, previous post about my route into libraries got me thinking about the things I appreciate most about working in the library world. One of the most important things I thought of is the people within it. Throughout all of my working, training and meeting people in libraries I have always been struck by how conscientious, committed and generally lovely (a word I use advisedly - see Annie Mauger's post on Room Lovely here) people are. This may be true in other professions (I don't know, I have most experience of libraries), but I think working with great people day to day really makes the information world.
Back to the mentors - I was really lucky that in my first professional job that the mentor I was allocated (who was also my line manager) proved to be a superb mentor. She not only helped me in the day to day things in my job but also helped me in getting a view of the big picture. Without getting too overblown about it, about how what we do in libraries can contribute to our users achievements - what we do makes a difference. My mentor has subsequently left the organisation, but what I learned from her has formed the backbone of my rationale for the Why of what I do.
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