ABSTRACT
Problem solving, computational thinking, design thinking, and collaboration—these are among many of the emerging new media skills that librarians of all types are expected to facilitate through their everyday programs and services. These skills are often developed through facilitating interest-based projects and experiences for youth (Ito et al., 2013). Yet through graduate training and old habits, librarians often embrace the expert role (guiding young adults according to their thoughts about what the young adult should do) rather than focusing on the young adults’ interests (Braun & Visser, 2016). Redefining mentorship in librarianship requires knowledge and understanding of interest-driven activities in youth, creating connected learning environments, and librarians’ ability and comfort to switch between modes of mentorship (learner, peer, expert, etc.) as needed (Hoffman et al., 2016). In this chapter, drawing from research in the learning sciences, we will cover the types of help that are needed by youth and the types of mentoring relationships that mentors must foster to support connected learning experiences. We will then “apply” these mentorship models to library settings and conclude with the skills and training needed for librarians to nurture these types of mentorships. We interweave these insights with examples from our own studies of facilitating informal learning with youth in communities as well as interviews with librarians serving different socioeconomic populations and community sizes.
