The Mary Newberry Mentorship Program
Welcome to the home of Mary Newberry Mentorship Program
Program Overview
The goals of the program are:
• To assist new indexers to develop their skills and business.
• To assist mature indexers to develop a new discipline or skill.
• To provide an additional resource for indexers in remote communities, who may not have access to other resources or indexing communities.
• To foster relationships between new and mature ISC/SCI members, and to encourage greater involvement in the indexing community.
• To promote excellence in indexing.
Mentors will be ISC/SCI members, and will be chosen for their experience. Mentees will also be ISC/SCI members, should have some previous knowledge of indexing (mentorship should complement, rather than be a replacement, for training), and should be actively engaged in developing their business and skills.
Mentorship will be one-on-one, for a two-month period, with the option to renew. A small fee of $100 will be charged, most of which will be an honorarium for the mentor. We would like the program to be accessible to all ISC/SCI members, while also acknowledging the commitment needed from both parties to make mentorship a success.
The program is named after ISC/SCI member Mary Newberry in recognition of her many years of mentorship and teaching.
The proposal for the program was accepted by the ISC/SCI executive at their May 2018 meeting, and announced to members in June at the ISC/SCI Annual General Meeting at the 2018 conference in Winnipeg. Stephen Ullstrom and Linda Christian were named the first coordinators.
Alexandra Jory and Linda Christian can be contacted at mentorship@indexers.ca.
Applications
The mentorship program is now open for applications.
The goal of the program is to foster relationships between new and mature ISC/SCI members, and to encourage greater involvement in the indexing community.
For Mentees
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, and will be treated on a first-come-first-serve basis.
We will do our best to find an appropriate mentor, though we cannot guarantee a match or that a mentor will be available right away. We will reply within 30 days, at the latest, about the status of your application and whether we have been able to find a mentor.
As this will be the first cohort, we will be capping the number of concurrent mentorships at six. This cap may change in the future as the program progresses.
To apply, please download, fill out and submit the application form and the career development exercise to mentorship@indexers.ca.
Program Details
Who Can Participate
Mentors
Mentors should be able to demonstrate a high level of proficiency in indexing. Expertise in specific areas(e.g., embedded or medical indexing) is also welcome. Mentors should also be able to demonstrate intangible skills, such as listening and the ability to teach and explain.
Mentors must be ISC/SCI members.
Potential characteristics of a mentor:
• At least five years of experience as an indexer
• Currently an active and practicing indexer
• Experience teaching an indexing course
• Published articles or books on indexing
• Have spoken at conferences or other events on indexing
• Have won an indexing award
• Have strong recommendations/references from colleagues or clients
• Previous mentorship experience.
ISC/SCI members will be invited to apply to be a mentor via a general email to the society.
Individual members may also be approached by the program coordinators.
Mentees
Mentees must be ISC/SCI members.
Qualifications include:
• Demonstration of some level of indexing knowledge
• Currently an active and practicing indexer, or actively trying to become established as an indexer
• Should be able to indicate what, specifically, they hope to gain from mentorship.
Enrolment in the mentorship program will be on an ongoing, rolling basis. To reinforce awareness, announcements about the program will be made once or twice a year.
Potential mentees will need to complete an application. Coordinators will vet mentees to ensure a good fit with the program.
Mentees should be aware that a mentor may not always be available.
The number of mentorship partners at any one time will be left to the discretion of the coordinators.
How the Mentorship Program Works
Scope
The focus and scope of mentorship should be agreed upon by both partners at the beginning of mentorship. An appropriate focus is specific enough to identify concrete outcomes, and broad enough to incorporate multiple discussions.
Mentorship is not a replacement for training.
Roles and Responsibilities
The mentee should be proactive in defining what they need, and for initiating contact over the course of the mentorship.
The mentor is responsible for responding in timely and appropriate ways, seeking to help the mentee grow professionally.
The coordinators will attempt to match partners within 30 days, and will notify promptly when it becomes clear if no mentor is available in the area requested.
Terms
Mentorship will be one-on-one.
Mentorship can take place in person, by phone or Skype, and/or by email. It will be up to the mentorship partners to decide.
Mentorship will take place over a two month period.
If both partners agree, mentorship may be renewed twice, for a total of six months.
Mentorship Agreement and Log
At the start of mentorship, the partners will develop a mentorship agreement documenting the expectations and parameters for the mentorship. This could include the focus of mentorship, how, when, and how often the partners will meet, and how the partners will know that mentorship has been successfully completed.
The mentorship agreement will help remind partners of what they want to achieve. It may also be used to resolve disputes.
To help track whether the agreement was carried out, the mentee will be responsible for keeping a log, detailing interactions and what has been accomplished. The mentor should also be in agreement with the log.
The mentorship agreement will include a section on ethics, which will address issues such as appropriate communication, confidentiality, and boundaries.
Templates for the mentorship agreement and log will be provided by the coordinators.
Fees
A nominal fee will be paid by the mentee. Ninety percent of the fee will be given to the mentor as an honorarium, and 10% will be kept by ISC for administrative costs.
The fee will be $100 per two-month period initially. The fee amount will be reviewed annually.
The fee will be fully refunded if the mentor partnership dissolves within two weeks of starting. If the partnership dissolves after two weeks, or there is otherwise a dispute, the fee will not be refunded.
To register and pay, click this button: