Making the most of mentorships

Earlier this week, Ashley discussed some of the ways to hack your advisor–but what if you get stuck with someone you don’t like? Or doesn’t know much about your field of study?  Or just plain stinks?  Lucky for you there is an oft-neglected source of sage wisdom and comforting words: the mentor.

While I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic academic advisor, I’m even luckier to have found a mentor to give me more practical advice.  Mentors are a kind of unofficial advisor, a professional who works in the field with whom you can have a close and open connection with.  Where your academic advisor can guide your classroom choices, mentors offer insight into the information profession.  Often, your mentor can be a family friend, a work supervisor, or even a seasoned colleague.  Whatever your association with your current or prospective mentor, here are some things I’ve learned about mentorships.

[Series] Library School Starter Kit – Questions and Advice

This is a collaborative post between Teresa Silva, who is entering her first year of library school at the Pratt Institute of Information and Library Science, and Turner Masland, who is entering his final semester of Emporia State University’s School of Library and Information Management.

Teresa: Finally, after months of waiting, I’ll be a student once again. I’m excited and eager to get going. Following various blog source recommendations including a recent post, I’ve started a blog, I have a twitter account, and after years of having a cell phone solely for dialing and texting, I’ve upgraded to a smart phone. I’ve registered for my classes, all core, which I figure will give me a better idea of what I’d like to concentrate in, so come second semester I’ll be able to take classes with more of a focus. Now it’s just a matter of attending orientations and various introductory activities before school at the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science officially begins on August 29th.

The next two years will be dedicated to learning as much as I possibly can about the realm of information and library science. I’d like each class that I take to be challenging, to learn how to effectively relay information to the public in which ever concentration I choose, to be able to engage with my professors and classmates and develop strong professional relationships, and to reach my goal of graduating and finding a job in something that I enjoy.

Now, I’d like to ask my fellow collaborator, Turner Masland, some questions about his first year experience.

[Series] Library School Starter Kit – The First Term

Below is a timeline that roughly follows my own experience in library school and what I have noticed other successful library students doing. Most of the activities are simple non-time intensive ways to help create opportunities to improve the quality of your library education.

#libday7 – Hack Library School Edition

Some of us are taking part in Library Day in the Life Round 7  (or #libday7) and writing about it in our individual blogs but we thought we’d also take a moment to do a quick Hack Library School edition so you can get an idea of what we do from day-to-day, whether we are in school, working, summer vacation, in between, etc.  Enjoy!

Working ALA – The Student-to-Staff Program

The ALA Student-To-Staff program is open to currently enrolled students who are members of their student ALA chapters. Only one student per school may participate and there are only forty slots available in the program. School representatives are selected on a first-come, first-served basis (so watch for the announcement like a hawk!). More information about the program can be found on its website.