LAMA mentoring program seeking mentors and mentees
Contact: Fred Reuland
Marketing Specialist, LAMA/ALA
(312) 280-5032
freuland@ala.org
For Immediate Release,
February 19, 2008
LAMA mentoring program seeking mentors and mentees
Mentor and mentee applications for participants in a formal mentoring program to be launched by the Library Administration and Management Association's (LAMA) Mentoring Committee are now being accepted. A kickoff event that includes a reception where the participants will meet one another face to face and a training session for both will take place on June 28 from noon until 2 p.m. at the American Library Association's annual conference in Anaheim, Calif.
The 10-month formal mentoring program is designed to encourage and nurture current and future leaders and to develop and promote outstanding leadership and management practices. The program content will focus on both mentees and mentors. Mentee content will involve career planning, job assistance, shaping careers and succession planning. Mentor content will include training and guidance in how to be an effective mentor. The committee has designed the ongoing program with an eye on sustainability, legacy, realism, structure, expectations and an emphasis on professional development. To support these goals, data collection and evaluative instruments have been developed.
Mentee participants in this pilot program will consist of LAMA members who are either currently active or have just joined. Candidates willing to participate are expected either to nominate themselves or be willing to be nominated. For the pilot year, mentee candidates will be limited to the first 25 applicants, and their mentors will volunteer or be chosen by a mentee. It is critical that the mentor candidates are active members within LAMA. Both parties are requested to submit biographical and career information that will help assist in the matching process. Members of these duos either have the option of self matching or the option of using the LAMA Mentoring Committee's expertise to assist with the selection process. Eventual consideration will be given to the construction and maintenance of a mentor profile database as well as the possible exploration of creating a distance mentorship program.
Applications for mentee and mentor candidates are being accepted through March 3, 2008 and can be accessed online at http://www.ala.org/ala/lama/lamacommittees/divisioncomms/LAMA_Mentoring_Committee/LAMA_Mentoring_for_Leadership_Program.cfm.
For additional information, please contact Janine Golden, Chair of the Mentoring Committee at jgolden13@verizon.net, or any one of the members of the LAMA Mentoring Committee.
The mission of the Library Administration and Management Association (www.ala.org/lama).
