The Resource Team Model: An Innovative Mentoring Program for Academic Librarians

Mentoring is a service activity that librarians must engage in to ensure a smooth integration of new library faculty. This case study describes the process of implementing a new mentoring model approach in an academic library, the Resource Team Model (RTM). The California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) Resource Team is an innovative model of mentoring, coaching, and training which includes a broader network of support for mentors and mentees.1 It is formed by a trinity of mentor librarians with different strengths who mobilize for six months to guide and support one new librarian. The main objectives of this model are to acclimatize the mentee to all areas of librarianship and to the culture of the new organization. The RTM ensures that new librarian mentees have the tools and support to move seamlessly into the fabric of the organization and to flourish professionally as they move towards tenure. The RTM approach is not a group mentoring, a mutual mentoring network, or a mentoring circle model as described in the literature. The advantages and disadvantages of the model are discussed, and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and pressures from both the mentor and mentee perspective at the CSULB University Library are examined.