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B&F Bulletin Mentoring Milestones Laura Leavitt This column represents one of the first new initiatives of the newly reformed B&F Mentoring Committee. As chairperson of the committee and editor of the column, I have asked a newly minted information professional, Brett Bonfield, to share his perspectives on SLA, the B&F Division, and professional organizations in general. I specifically asked Brett to discuss what we, as a Division or as individual B&F members, could provide to those new to the field that would enhance their career development and overall satisfaction with the profession. In the next few columns, I hope to have other B&F members with different perspectives share their opinions about some of the same issues. In the future, you can also look to this column for discussions on networking, building professional relationships, and getting involved with professional organizations. I hope that the discussions here will get members, regardless of their tenure with the Division, to begin thinking about these issues and to ultimately get involved with the Division’s efforts to support the next generation of information professionals. If you are interested in working with the new Mentoring Committee, please contact me, Laura Leavitt, at leavitt9@msu.edu. Guest Contributor: Brett Bonfield Since joining the library and information science profession one year ago, I have been blown away by how good my colleagues are at organizing and accessing incredibly complex information. Often it seems the more obscure the question is, the better they are at answering it; the more chaotic the data, the better they are at taming it for our patrons. However, there’s an exception to this rule: information about our profession. Several people I respect have advised me to join SLA and to get active, but the first part is a lot simpler than the second part. What does it mean to be active? How do I volunteer for a committee? I realize the answer to that last question is still being determined, and I think it’s great that Stephen Abram is introducing more fairness and transparency into the committee appointment process. But I had a wonderful time at the SLA Annual Conference in Denver and I want to get involved now! Other questions I ask colleagues about the profession seem just as troubling. When I ask my colleagues what sources I should rely on to stay informed, they seem perplexed and occasionally even pained. I realize these are personal questions; naturally, information professionals take information seriously. But there’s a lot out there that seems worth knowing, so it’s hard to decide what should get my attention. That’s what I want from my mentors, my professional associations, and my colleagues: guidance on how to learn what I need to learn in order to do something meaningful for my patrons and the profession. Clearly, the first steps for anyone new to the profession are getting trained and finding work that suits our abilities and interests. Several people helped steer me to and through my graduate program, and I got a lot more out of it than I would have without their guidance. I would love to see an SLA initiative that helps ensure that everyone gets as many helpful suggestions as I have received. I’m also grateful to those mentors who have mentioned potential employers and passed along job postings. Some of them have even personally introduced me to people they felt I should know. Generally, they seem to think of these introductions as nothing, but it’s not the sort of thing many of us who are new to the profession feel comfortable asking. What’s the polite way to say, “She seems important and I’ve heard she manages a lot of people. Would you introduce me to her?” On top of that, most of the time I have no idea who’s important or how many people anyone manages until after I’ve met them. How would I know? It takes someone with the empathy to put themselves in my shoes and give me the sort of networking opportunity they would have wanted when they were new. Finally, like many new information professionals, I have time, ideas, and energy. I’m just not always sure= Spring 2007 7
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