What are your goals for this relationship?
Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years?
What are your greatest challenges right now?
What motivates you?
What's working in your career? What's not working?
What part of your job most excites you?
How would you describe your personal style?
If someone was writing the story of your career, what would you want it to be?
What are your short-term goals?
What are your long-term goals?
What ideas have you developed to help you overcome challenges and meet your goals?
What areas do you feel comfortable addressing on your own and what areas require more support?
Do you utilize a support system on your campus? Are you involved and engaged with your campus organizations?
What methods do you currently use for professional development? Webinars, conferences, professional organizations, etc?
Do you have strategies in place for keeping current with the profession/literature?
What do you read/follow?
Are you comfortable with your work/life balance?
Do you have a toolkit/strategy for self-care and wellness?
What are your plans for winter break? What types of fun or relaxing things do you have planned?
New year, new you!! Have you been inspired to take on any new professional (or life) resolutions or goals that are new or different from last semester?
What significant event or events shaped your professional trajectory?
What are you passionate about? Have your passions changed over time? If so, what factors contributed to that change?
Was there a time you felt like you made a major mistake or failed? What lessons did you learn from that experience?
What would you most like to be known for in life?
What does leadership mean to you?
What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned and how has it proven invaluable?
Which leadership skills do you think are the most difficult to develop?
What is the difference, if any, between management and leadership?
Reflecting on a leader that you have found effective and a great leader, what actions or behaviors did they display to make you believe they were great or effective?
Let’s think about leadership skills, think about the actions, tasks, or engagements you’ve taken on. Can you identify leadership behaviors in your own experiences. Perhaps as the formal leader of something or maybe informally - a volunteer task, community service role, etc. What behaviors did you display? Are there areas you’d like to improve?
What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard regarding work/life balance?
What does your library/campus look like during spring break? Do you get a spring break on your campus?
What’s your favorite spring break/vacation memory?
Does your library have any spring traditions/events that you look forward to?
Does your library participate in any religious celebrations or hold religious events in lieu of Easter.
What are your library’s 2024 American Library Associations’ National Library Week plans? The Theme is “Ready, Set, Library!”
Does your library staff celebrate National Library Workers Day, and will they do anything for Tuesday, April 9, 2024
What are some new professional development webinars will you do online and/or face to face for this month?
Has the Texas Banned Book scare/DEI Ban affected your library if so, how?
Finals are a hectic time for students. How does your library support students during this stressful time? (special events, extended hours, etc?)
How does your library cover extended hours? Does your library budget for additional support expenses?
Does your campus have any unique finals tradition? (At TAMU-CC, students touch the foot of Dr. Hector P. Garcia’s statue for luck!)
Did you attend TLA or other conferences this year?
Are you active and engaged in a professional association, presenting or serving on committees?
Do you have any plans for the summer? Do you have any traditional summer projects?
Does your campus/library shift to an alternative work schedule during interim/summer?
As you wrap up your first year with the TAMUS Mentoring Program - what’s next for you?
Mentees: What advice would you offer to library folks considering signing up for next year’s program?