The ALIA Mentoring Scheme is a 12-month formal arrangement founded on the collective wisdom of the Australian LIS community. The diverse community of practice and networking connections built during the program play a unique role in strengthening the Australian library profession. This year, ALIA has received no less than 70 applications from mentees around the country to participate in the 2024-25 scheme. As we always receive more mentee that mentor applications, the ALIA Policy and Education Team has been very busy this week reaching out to our ALIA professional networks to shoulder-tap people to mentor. It is a credit to our caring and generous sector that so many people are willing to step in to be mentors. We will have 138 people participating in total as two of our mentees are also mentoring in the scheme. Mentors need mentors too!
In terms of geographical distribution, Qld, NSW, and Vic each represent 25% of the cohort. SA and WA contribute 10% each with the remaining 5% coming from Tas, NT and overseas. Where possible, we aim to match people with mentors that are located nearby, however this is not always possible, especially for remote and regional participants. We have found that meeting virtually works just as well and pairs will often organise holiday trips to meet up with each other.
Over the coming week, mentees and mentors will be notified of their partnership match and the Mentoring Scheme officially launching on Wednesday 31 July with an introductory webinar so everyone starts on the same page. Mentees will be receiving an ALIA Mentoring Scheme Workbook and we are also setting up a learning platform for discussions and connections amongst the cohort. The scheme is supported by monthly webinars on various topics of interest to the group. Just a few examples of the webinar topics include Confidence, Leadership, Changing sectors and Networking.
If you didn’t apply to be part of the ALIA Mentoring Scheme this year, and are interested in participating in the future, keep an eye out for the next intake which will open in May 2025.
Image top left: Pexels stock image. Images bottom: comments from people after being shoulder-tapped to mentor.
