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SAA Membership, Mentoring Program Subcommittee Report
Submitted by Subcommittee Co-Chairs, Gabrielle Spiers and Michael Zaidman
Hilton, Atlanta, GA, August 3, 2016
Administering the Mentorship Program
The following members are rotating off the Mentoring Program Subcommittee in 8/2016:
The following SAA members have agreed to join Subcommittee starting 8/2016:
*Devhra finished a term, but will take another turn on the committee as a co-chair.
As of July 28, 2016, there were 63 Protégés and 71 Mentor volunteers active in the program (134 participants total). Of these, there are 14 Protégés waiting to be matched. Of the 71 Mentors currently matched, 2 have renewed seven times, 2 renewed six times, 3 renewed five times, 7 renewed four times, 9 renewed nine times and 20 are repeats! For the total from the SAA Mentoring Program Database 2011/09/04 to 2016/07/28, there have been 371 Mentors and 430 Protégés.
Subcommittee activities
-Ongoing tasks that maintain the program: Reviewed and updated the database Protégés and Mentors to identify matches and manage information about participants; Contacted recently "expired" Mentors to see if they are interested in being matched with another Protégé, and submitted calls to the memberships of various SAA sections and roundtables for Mentors.
-Met via conference call on 10/1/2015 to welcome new members and to discuss ways of promoting the program, particularly during National Mentoring Month.
-Distributed the mentoring survey via email to all active program participants in January (National Mentoring Month). 74 participants filled out the survey. A summary of the results is appended to this report.
-Publicized the Mentoring Program several ways: SNAP blog post on November 11 by co-chair Gabrielle Spiers about her experience with mentors; Received inquiry from committee member Alexandra Orchard about mentor data to develop an article about women in the mentor community; Committee member Michael Zaidman spoke with Claudia Ocello from Museum Partners Consulting on behalf of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) to develop a similar mentor program for their members; Two past protégés (Holly Croft & Stephanie Bennett) will write about their positive experiences in upcoming issues of Archival Outlook to generate others to participate; Committee member Jeremy Brett wrote a blurb for In The Loop in the spring to generate more participation; During National Mentoring Month, committee members sent out messages to encourage members to sign up to be a mentor in almost all the committees, sections and state and regional groups; After further mentoring discussions with the Electronic Records Section, it was decided that the Navigator program is more appropriate to further their goal of connecting with born digital students; The Mentoring program Meet-and-Greet will take place on Thursday morning at the SAA Annual Meeting again next to the New Member / First Timer Coffee Break.
Ongoing issues/ goals for the upcoming year
-Continue to foster meaningful mentoring relationships between SAA members by matching Mentors with Protégés and soliciting Mentor volunteers via group listservs and personal connections.
-Inquire about improving the database with SAA, such as removing the geographic requirement.
-Creating a recognition program for mentors that have served numerous times.
-Perhaps work with the Certified Archivists group to offer points for certification for being a mentor. Nancy Beaumont hopes to talk to the CA president to discuss this matter. CA Board member Tomaro Taylor was also contacted about this option and perhaps it will be on an upcoming CA agenda.
-Committee members need to be very responsive to applications that come in. We try to respond in five days, but should respond as quickly as the applications appear.
-Analyze the less favorable responses from the 2016 survey, and discuss how we can address these concerns and generally improve the experience of program participants.
-Continue to promote the program during National Mentoring Month by contacting active participants in January each year, and highlighting the program in “In the Loop” during this time.
-Be very thorough in asking expired mentors to renew since many are willing to continue to volunteer.
2016 SurveyMonkey Mentoring Program Report
The Mentoring Program of the Society of American Archivists sent out a survey to the SAA Mentoring Program participants via the SAA listserv in January of 2016. There were 74 (19 Protégé and 52 Mentor) respondents to the survey, which was almost double the amount of participants from last year.
1. Are you currently, or have you previously served as a Mentor or as a Protégé? Answers: Mentor or Protégé.
2. Mentors: why did you decide to participate in the SAA Mentoring Program? (choose all that apply) A: Service to the profession; Enjoy connecting with new professionals; General professional involvement.
3. Protégés: why did you decide to participate in the SAA Mentoring Program? (choose all that apply) A: Career advice; Education advice; Resume/CV advice; Networking.
4. How long have you, or how long did you participate in the Mentoring Program? A: Less than 1 year; 1 year; 2 years; 3+ years.
5. Was a match made in a timely fashion? A: Yes; No.
6. Do you think that you were matched with the right person? A: Yes; No.
7. In general, was your experience serving as a Mentor or as a Protégé fulfilling? A: Yes, No.
8. If Yes, what were the primary reasons it was fulfilling? (choose all that apply) A: Mentor or Protégé was responsive to my needs and/or concerns; Mentor or Protégé responded to my questions or comments in a timely fashion; Mentor or Protégé provided helpful and practical assistance or guidance; Mentor or Protégé had similar interests; Lack of time to commit to the program.
9. If No, what were the primary reasons it was not fulfilling? (choose all that apply) A: Mentor or protégé was unresponsive; Mentor or protégé did not understand or was not informed of his or her role; Mentor or protégé had dissimilar interests; Lack of time to commit to the program.
10. Please list any ways you think the Mentoring Program experience could be improved. A: 33 responses.
11. Are you currently participating in any other professional mentor programs. A. Yes, No.
Results
1. Of the 74 respondents, 52 were mentors and 19 were protégés.
2. Fifty (50) participants responded that they signed up to pay it forward, which is a trend that hopefully always continues. One comment “This is critical for us solo archivists.”
3. 17 of the 19 protégés responded that career advice was the major factor as to why they joined the program while networking was a close second. Clearly, the protégés want to know how to get a job and who do they have to meet to do so.
4. Over 34% said they have been part of the program for more than three years! Clearly, this program has a high renewal rate, which helps the high amount of applicants.
5. An overwhelming 93% said they were matched in a timely fashion. Clearly, the subcommittee is doing an outstanding job getting matches made quickly.
6. Even though we have been short on mentor matches, 82% feel they are being matched correctly.
7. 70% of the surveyed participants find the program fulfilling!
8. Of the participants that found success, the biggest factor was having similar interests followed by quick responses from their partners.
9. For those that did not find the program fulfilling, the biggest negative was the unresponsiveness, which we have heard from a few mentors say that the protégés are the ones that don’t respond. Of course, time is always a contributing factor, but responding in a timely manner was the most popular answer.
10. Ways to improve the program were varied, but here are just a few suggestions: Create guidelines of what should be discussed; Encourage a skype/googlehangout for the first meeting to get a more of an open dialogue between each other; Perhaps sending out mentoring articles to all participants to encourage discussions, how to be a better mentor, how to set mentor goals, how to stay in contact; Create an icebreaker questionnaire; Send out an e-mail to participants, have you contacted your mentor lately?
11. A majority (81%) of the participants don’t participate in other mentor programs.
Report created by subcommittee co-chair Michael Zaidman, August 3, 2016.