SHINE Mentoring
Where does the SHINE membership want mentoring to go from here?
Recently there has been plenty of discussion around mentoring as a potential value added role for SHINE within the health library and information staff in Scotland community (1,2). A paper was put togther by SHINE members in 2005 (3) outlining the advantages and disadvantages of informal and formal schemes. Recently a paper compiled for Skills for Success: the Health Library Staff Development Network in England offers a guide to mentoring for health library staff (4).
Many SHINE members may already be a member of a workplace mentoring scheme or taking part in the CILIP (Chartered Institute for Library and Information Professionals) scheme leading to accreditation, chartership, revalidation or fellowship (5).
Currently the SHINE Committee is interested in the views of members. Are you interested in SHINE holding a study day on mentoring? Do you think SHINE should compile a needs assessment around mentoring in health libraries in Scotland? Do you already participate in a mentoring scheme either informally or formally, and could offer guidance or feedback?
Might it be useful to gauge the potential interest of SHINE members in either informal or formal schemes? SHINE does not want to replicate current schemes but potentially add value. What steps could SHINE take to develop mentoring within Scotland? Would members prefer if we linked into other groups such as the CILIP special interest group PTEG (Personnel Training and Education Group) (6)? Could SHINE tap into their expertise on mentoring and match it with our local and subject specialisms knowledge?
Mentoring appears to lend itself well to soft skills such as management, leadership, creative thinking, change management, appraisal, influencing and negotiating etc rather than the more technical skills such as database search training which can be gained through practical training sessions.
So what do you want from mentoring? Let me know and I will feedback to the next SHINE Committee meeting in mid-November.
Lynn Easton
Co-Chair of SHINE
lynn.easton@irh.scot. nhs.uk
Inverclyde Royal Hospital
Larkfield Road
Greenock
PA16 0XN
References
1 Stewart, Chloe. Mentoring librarians for Chartership. SHINe Journal 2007 no 51 p5-8 http://www.shinelib.org.uk [Accessed 19 September 2007]
2 Denoon, Catriona. CILIP mentoring workshop. SHINe Journal, 2006 no 49 p14-15 http://www.shinelib.org.uk [Accessed 19 September 2007]
3 Maclean, Gerry and Wright, Amanda. SHINE preliminary outline re mentoring presented at 2005 SHINE AGM http://www.shinelib.org.uk [Accessed 19 September 2007]
4 Lawrence, Jane. Working in a mentoring relationship, Skills for Success: the Health Library Staff Development Framework, 2007 http://library.nhs.uk/nlhdocs/NLH_STG_Working_in_a_mentoring_relationship.doc [Accessed 19 September 2007]
5 CILIP mentoring website http://www.cilip.org.uk/qualificationschartership/FrameworkofQualifications/mentor [Accessed 19 September 2007]
6 PTEG mentoring website http://www.cilip.org.uk/specialinterestgroups/bysubject/pteg/msnetwork [Accessed 19 September 2007]