Welcome to the ALIA (SA Branch) Mentoring Group Webpage

The group is self-funded and self-organised by committees of 3-5 group members. ALIA membership is a prerequisite for involvement in the group. Membership is also limited to graduates. Although networking and education are undoubted benefits, the overwhelming consensus is that the greatest feature of the mentoring scheme lies in the informal section of the meetings.

The Mentoring group provides:

• Encouragement to keep going
• Opportunity to recommend each other.
• Opportunity to learn from other's interview experiences
• Support network for later in our professional lives "Its good to know people when going for jobs"
• Information about agencies
• Information about voluntary work

The initial meeting was attended by 26 finishing students and has now settled at 17 members, of which 15 are first year graduates; 8 completed the three year Degree in Librarianship in 1998 and 7 completed the Graduate Diploma in Information Studies.

Meetings are held monthly for two hours and are chaired and run by the group members. Each meeting has a theme. In the first hour guests are invited to speak to this theme. The second hour is reserved for the discussion of employment issues, exchange of information about upcoming events and other issues arising from the running of the group.

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