Marie Cloutier, AJL Administrative Consultant, has reminded me that this month is National Mentoring Month. It has become an under-utilized service of AJL membership, perhaps in light of the massive SSC closings and revocation of their respective accreditation. I'm hoping that after mid-winter conference, certain issues such as budget, convention and restructuring will enable us to better see what issues need to be addressed in order that we maintain cutting-edge effectiveness within the Jewish community at large. This past year, many library support staff (mostly non-members) have contacted me for aid in setting up libraries, selecting OPAC equipment, etc. To be honest, I don't mind answering such preliminary queries, but tend to see my mission somewhat differently. As a committee of AJL, I wish our services to benefit paid members, especially new professionals to the field. I would hope that those involved with mentorship indeed will foster confidence and professionalism among Judaica library students, recent graduates, and librarians in transition. Furthermore, I know how very helpful a mentorship is for first-time attendees to our annual conferences. We had a modest yet meaningful turn-out in Seattle, and I'm hoping that we will as well in Montreal. Again, mentorships can be either a one-year commitment or simply for the duration of the conference. Chapters and regions should seriously look into establishing opportunities for mentorships (or internships) at their local institutions. If you are involved in any of the above and are willing to share your thoughts, feedback, experiences with me, please do so. I'm hoping to write up something for the blog, but need positive input. I think we're all a bit impatient that our new homepage is not yet ready, and I foresee that as soon as it is available to the general public, my committee be up and running. Until then, let's all try to push on with what we have. Are there sessions or events that might do well in Montreal connected to mentoring, sharing, study buddies, social learning, and the like? Have any of you gone outside AJL to be mentored? If so, was it do to your geographic location, subject area? What issues other than those concerning selection of online catalog hardware and software concern you? Programming? Outreach? Marketing and fundraising? For the Seattle conference, I called on interested members to form study-buddies or special interest groups to retrain ourselves in modern library technologies and trends. As soon as we have a critical mass of such trained "mavens", we will be able to re-establish a more robust mentoring committee.
Kol tuv and looking forward to hearing from you. Stephanie Gross, MSLIS AJL Mentoring Pollack Library Rm. 406 Yeshiva University 500 West 185th Street New York NY 10033 T: 212.960.5442 Skype: Stephanie.L.Gross E: [email protected] E: [email protected]
