(via Melissa Jadlos, St. John Fisher College)
If you are a new Library Director at a small college library, please consider joining the College Library Director Mentoring Program. The program, now in its twenty-fifth year, is designed to enhance leadership capabilities of new college-library directors, and to help them meet the unique challenges involved in directing libraries in small colleges. First-year directors are assigned a mentor to listen and provide support throughout the year. There is also a series of webinars and a three-day seminar in March. Topics are based on participants’ needs and may include planning, campus politics, and leadership issues.
A member of the 2016-17 cohort stated, “Thanks to interactions with my mentor, the faculty of the program, and fellow participants I am better able to identify ways to move my institution forward in regard to assessment, policy making, and programming to better serve my college. Though it sometimes feels as if I’m scaling a mountain, it’s encouraging to know that others have similar experiences and can testify to the fact that there are moments in which I’ll be able to reach a vista and enjoy the beauty of the work that has been done.”
Applicants must be new directors at a small-college library (fewer than 3,500 undergraduate FTE) and cannot have previously been a director at a small-college library. Additional information about qualifications and the application process is available on the Program website.