Librarian-Faculty Mentorship: The Missing Link to Departmental Culture

Abstract

In academic libraries, mentoring programs play a pivotal role in supporting professional growth and fostering meaningful connections. These programs span various models, including the dyad approach, peer mentoring, group mentoring, and co-mentoring. These established approaches focus on orienting new librarians to their departments and to institutional processes, but for subject librarians, the programs neglect to demystify the unique cultural nuances of their assigned faculty departments. The Librarian-Faculty Mentorship Program at University of Victoria (UVic) Libraries strategically pairs new librarians who have subject responsibilities with an established faculty member from one of their liaison departments. The new librarian is positioned to benefit from the institutional wisdom of the faculty mentor while building relationships that are crucial to their success as a subject librarian. This intentional librarian-faculty mentorship ensures the program’s outcomes go beyond professional development, resulting in a community-building effort that fosters a sense of belonging and mutual support.