On Nov 27, 2012, at 7:49 PM, Nick Ruest <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Matt McCollow proposed something like this a while back. We have a page up and everything! But, it never got much traction.
> 
> [log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http:[log in to unmask]
> http://wiki.code4lib.org/index.php/Mentorship

I really like the idea of the mentorship, but I think that if people are apprehensive about asking questions on a mailing list or in an IRC channel, it takes it to a new level when asking somebody to help you one-on-one for an extended period of time.

And I say that as somebody would love to mentor someone.

I had a conference proposal that I can up with the night before the CfP closed that was project board for libraries to jointly collaborate on developing the sorts projects that get built over and over again at every library, with the idea that collaborative development could both immediately expand the development teams at any given library, but also foster this sort of mentor/learner relationship.

At the end of the day, though, I wasn't sure that anybody would actually get over our usual "we're all unique little snowflakes" mindset and work with other institutions to get stuff done.  In the interest of full disclosure, what /actually/ happened at the end of the day was the DPLA AppFest wound up at the Honest Pint and when I got home I went to bed.

But I'm pretty sure that first part would be a hurdle, though.

-Ross.

> 
> -nruest
> On 12-11-27 07:30 PM, Bess Sadler wrote:
>> +1 to this idea. I have benefited tremendously over the years from kind people taking me under their wings. Many of us try to do this one-on-one, but some kind of introduction service would be a huge benefit for the community, I would think.
>> 
>> Mentorship is a great example of a robust solution - a solution that addresses more than one problem at once. I suspect that this would not only improve our diversity as a community, it might also solve some tech leadership / succession planning problems and maybe expose some training needs.
>> 
>> Bess
>> 
>> On Nov 27, 2012, at 4:20 PM, Nathan Tallman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>>> This is a slightly different topic, but relates to Kelley's post: Does
>>> code4lib have a mentor program where more inexperienced geeks can pair up
>>> with someone to guide their development? I don't have anyone like that in
>>> my network, but would really like to. I don't mean to discount the existing
>>> resources on code4lib or this list, which both have been very useful. I'm
>>> sure I could just start by attending some of the conferences, but for more
>>> inexperienced people they can be a bit intimidating, albeit inspiring.
>>> 
>>> It would also be a way to directly engage minorities.
>>> 
>>> Just a thought.
>>> 
>>> Nathan
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 6:20 PM, Kelley McGrath <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I'll second the idea of approaching people individually and explicitly
>>>> asking them to participate. It worked on me. I never would have written my
>>>> first article for the Code4Lib Journal or become a member of the editorial
>>>> committee if someone hadn't encouraged me individually (Thanks Jonathan!).
>>>> 
>>>> It would also be good to find a way to somehow target the pool of lurkers
>>>> who maybe aren't already connected to someone and get them more involved.
>>>> 
>>>> As far as anonymous proposals go, we recently had a very good workshop on
>>>> implicit bias here. Someone brought up that found significant changes in
>>>> the gender proportions in symphony orchestras after candidates started
>>>> auditioning behind screens. There are also lots of studies about the
>>>> different responses to the same resume/application depending on whether a
>>>> stereotypically male/female or white/black name was used. Probably it's
>>>> impossible to make proposals completely anonymous, but it would be an
>>>> interesting experiment to leave off the names.
>>>> 
>>>> Kelley
>>>> 
>>>> PS Interestingly, I wouldn't instinctively self-identify as a member of
>>>> the Code4Lib community, although my first thought is that that has more to
>>>> do with not being a coder than with being a woman.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> **************************
>>>> Kelley McGrath
>>>> Metadata Management Librarian
>>>> University of Oregon Libraries
>>>> 1299 University of Oregon
>>>> Eugene, OR 97403
>>>> 
>>>> 541-346-8232
>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>> 
> 
> -- 
> -nruest