Mentorship Program Kickoff

Submitted by Joan Dudzinski

On Wednesday, September 10, the FCPL Mentorship program had its kickoff meeting. Adrianne Junius welcomed everyone, sharing some of her history with us and how she came to work in public libraries. Nikki Watkins facilitated the meeting with the mentors, and topic presenters talked about their backgrounds and experience with libraries and specifically FCPL. It was inspiring to hear the amount of experience in the room, and the longevity with FCPL.

Each CSA has been teamed up with a mentor within their own branches who can offer 1:1 assistance and guidance on the positions both during this program and beyond. The CSAs for this initial program are Kirti Malav (CU), Faith Vrieland (DE), Natalya Martinez (PR), and Kristen Prince (SF). Their respective mentors are Jen Bell (CU), Amy Szvetecz (DE), Melissa Reed (PR), and Brianna Schantz (SF).

This pilot program was created to help prepare employees for future roles in the library, specifically, CSAs interested in moving to an IS or YS position. It is an 8-week program with an initial Meet and Greet session where both mentors and mentees were introduced to the program and got a chance to talk with one another. The focused sessions will be one-hour virtual sessions with a presenter for each topic. The presenters are Alicia Cavitt (SF) for Reader’s Advisory, Jennifer Forbes (HP) for Customer Service, Jane Elizabeth Sewell (DE) and Morgan Shaffer (SF) for Programming, Jen Bell (CU) for computer skills, Melissa Reed (PR) for On/Off Desk tasks, and the HR team will provide tips on the Interviewing Process. A final in-person session will provide a recap, discuss next steps, and allow for feedback on the program.

We are very excited to have this opportunity to continue to grow our employees. Thank you to everyone who helped bring this together.