Mentor Perspective
My journey as a librarian started many years ago in an ocean city called Mar del Plata, Argentina. My life is connected to the ocean and to water, therefore it always resonates with me the analogies of navigation and exploration. My professional voyage has been shaped throughout different hemispheres, countries, environments, languages, institutions, and cultures. My educational explorations in three different countries have provided me different points of view that enriched my understanding of libraries but also about the world and have changed my cosmovision.
These explorations in different shores have been supported by teachers, friends, family, professors, scholarships, fellowships and mentors. As a first generation, international student, and a latinx woman, I have been extremely fortunate to support my education through scholarships, fellowships and grants. But navigations are not always pleasant; you might encounter storms through your journey. Many mentors have been my compass, they have guided me through turbulent routes, and they have illuminated the right path.
I feel compelled to give back, and that is my commitment to participating in the APALA Mentoring Program; first as a member, then a co-chair and now as a mentor. This program is all about crafting and nurturing a space of confidentiality, setting achievable goals and establishing a dialogue with other colleagues. It is about understanding the trajectory of your mentee and helping her/him to find her/his shore. It is about creating an island of reflection in our busy lives.
Ben’s goals were about his own journey through the Academic system, his tenure track, his research agenda and overall his path in Librarianship. Through biweekly meetings, we talked about his tenure track process and research opportunities. Tenure track is a difficult trip, where you have to think about your work priorities almost on a weekly basis.
I have had a remarkable experience with Ben; it was the paradigmatic case of the student becoming the teacher. We nurture each other over mindful conversations about balancing work and personal lives, diversity, intersectionality and how our emotional life is intrinsic to our daily work. Ben is a person who likes to engage in profound discussions and analysis about dire
topics in our profession: mental health, emotional labor, social justice issues, research to include all the voices in any campus community. I have to say that I feel grateful for meeting Ben, specifically the last months when the world was under lockdown and I had a colleague to talk with and make me think about a brighter future.
Bio:
Valeria E. Molteni worked as an Academic and special librarian in Argentina and USA for more than 27 years. She worked at the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin, as the Multicultural and Outreach Librarian at CSU Dominguez Hills, as Associate Faculty Librarian (tenured) and Interim Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship at the MLK Library, SJSU, and as Academic Adjunct Librarian at the SMCCD Libraries. She has published journal articles, book chapters and conference presentations on the analysis of scientific production, on the evaluation of university research systems, on electronic journal collection, on information literacy, on Library services for international and bilingual populations, on learning spaces in academic Libraries and about leadership in Academic Libraries. Currently, she is the Dean of Library Services at Bowman Library, Menlo College, a Hispanic Service Institution (HSI) and Asian American, Native American, and Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).
Protégé perspective
As a freshly minted academic librarian, I wanted to establish meaningful connections right from the get-go, so I began to attend more conferences and professional gatherings; while doing so, it became clearer to me that the profession is inherently white. I became propelled to expand my network and find ways to converse with other persons of color in order to successfully navigate spaces historically not meant for people like me. And as a junior faculty member in the world of higher education, I wanted to gain insight and advice from someone experienced with the tenure-track journey—specifically, I had many questions surrounding publishing journal articles and research.
Getting to chat with Valeria on a bi-weekly basis gave me the capacity to reflect on my contributions to the field, the highs and the lows of the field, my role as an activist for social justice, and the future of librarianship. Valeria’s shared wisdom was instrumental in empowering me to navigate all sorts of obstacles. Her support, thoughtful insights, and professional guidance were much needed, especially during our tumultuous times. For two of my research projects—one on government information and the other on graduate students’ experiences with research data management—she urged me to think proactively about intended audience and the importance of contextualizing background information. I am proud to say that I received my first peer-reviewed journal article acceptance in part due to her invaluable suggestions.
Peoples’ jobs oftentimes intertwine with their personal lives, whether we like it or not. As such, Valeria and I often reflect on the importance of work-life balance which contributed to my amplified awareness of mental health. Although I am thankful that my current workplace supports me in developing and introducing innovations with respect to new library services, I feel lucky to have Valeria as someone I can trust when it came to bouncing off ideas. Valeria genuinely cares about both my vocational trajectory and personal well-being. I entered the field of librarianship wide-eyed and ambitious, although at times reluctant and hesitant. Valeria’s encouragement gave me the right amount of nudge towards being fearless as I continue to grow and learn in the profession. I am grateful for the APALA Mentoring Program and feel blessed to have had such a knowledgeable, dedicated, and helpful mentor.
Bio:
Ben Chiewphasa is a Government Information Librarian and Assistant Professor at the University of Montana in Missoula. He holds an MSLIS degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Ben is a 2018-2020 Diversity Scholar through the ARL’s Kaleidoscope Program, a recipient of the iSchool at Illinois’ Anne M. Boyd/Beta Phi Mu Award, and received the 2019 W. David Rozkuszka Scholarship from the ALA’s Government Documents Round Table. He enjoys playing video games, stand up paddleboarding, and hiking.