Julia Chance Gustafson, The College of Wooster, Professional Development Committee Chair

The ALAO Professional Development Committee launched ALAO a two-year pilot Mentoring Program at the ALAO Annual Conference on November 14, 2014. Since then, the committee marketed the program, accepted applications, appealed a second time for more mentors, and matched 26 mentor/mentee pairs, involving 52 librarians throughout the state. Each pair is required to set their own goals and submit those goals to the Chair of the Professional Development Committee. The contracts have been trickling in since the date the pairs were notified.

The committee itself has already begun to have email discussions about how to handle our second round of applications and pairing. They will ask all of the participants to fill out an assessment form to help inform that effort as well. The Committee is looking forward to hearing back from those who are benefiting from this exciting new program.