Information on the background and goals of the Mary Newberry Mentorship Program can be found here.
Mentors
To be a mentor, you must be an ISC/SCI member who demonstrates a high level of proficiency in indexing. Expertise in specific areas (e.g., embedded or medical indexing) is also welcome. You should also be able to demonstrate intangible skills, such as listening and the ability to teach and explain.
Potential characteristics of a mentor include the following:
- 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
If you are interested in helping the Society and individual members through this program, please email the co-coordinators at mentorship@indexers.ca.
Mentees
To be a mentee, you must be an ISC/SCI member. You should be able to
- Demonstrate some level of indexing knowledge
- Be actively trying to become established as an indexer
- Can describe specifically what you hope to gain from mentorship
To apply, please review the Mentorship Program Terms below and then submit the following to mentorship@indexers.ca
Once the Mentorship Coordinator has reviewed and approved your application, you may formally register and submit the $100 fee.
Mentorship Program Terms
Potential mentees will need to complete the application form. The Mentorship Coordinator team will vet mentees to ensure a good fit with the program.
Mentees should be aware that a mentor may not always be available.
Scope
Both the mentor and the mentee will agree on the focus and scope of mentorship 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 should be responsible 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 thirty days and will notify promptly the mentee when it becomes clear that no mentor is available in the area requested.
Terms
- Mentorship will be one-on-one.
- Mentorship can take place in person, by phone or Zoom, 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, they may renew the mentorship twice, for a total of six months.
Record Keeping
The mentorship agreement will help remind partners of what they want to achieve. Members may also used it to resolve disputes.
To help track the agreement, the mentee will be responsible for keeping a log, detailing interactions and what they have accomplished. The mentor should also agree with the log.
The mentorship coordinator will supply templates for the mentorship agreement and the log. The template includes a section on ethics, which will address issues such as appropriate communication, confidentiality, and boundaries.
Fees
The mentee will pay a nominal fee to the ISC/SCI. The mentor will receive the fee as an honorarium.
The fee is $100 per two-month period.
The Society will fully refund the fee if the mentor partnership dissolves within two weeks of starting. If the partnership dissolves after the two-week period or if there is otherwise a dispute, the Society will not issue a refund.