Your library's future is as good as the talent you develop. Too many mentorship programs are cursory; without structure and expectations, they accomplish little beyond a procedural orientation. But a solid, sustainable mentorship program can be a game changer for libraries, with long-term results that include career development, organization-wide professionalism, and retention. Here, Todaro offers a guide to putting mentorship into practice, complete with scanning checklists and critical questions that will assist you in designing, planning, and implementing your own program. Bypassing abstract management theories in favor of succinct action items, this book includes four case-method scenarios that will prepare you for making decisions in common mentoring situations; a discussion of mentor, mentee, reverse-mentoring, and co-mentoring terminology, and how to choose the best language to shape the expectations of your program; tips on how to apply nine measurements you probably already use for evaluation, plus five new ones that will make your program even more effective; suggested content and events in a mentorship curriculum, with sample goals, job descriptions, and advice on program planning; and ways to address objections to a mentorship program. Administrators at all types of institutions will benefit from Todaro's sensible, to-the-point insights into creating and sustaining a mentorship program.
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