The Northwest Archivists Mentoring Program: A Case Study

Abstract

The Northwest Archivists (NWA), a regional archival association in the Pacific Northwest, established a formal mentoring program in 2007. A pilot phase of the program ran for 2 years and included both formative and summative assessments from participants. This case study documents NWA's experiences designing and managing a mentoring program within a volunteer-run professional association, reflects on the program's successes and challenges, and recommends areas for future investigation.

Pinkett's Charges: Recruiting, Retaining, and Mentoring Archivists of Color in the Twenty-First Century

“…45 A second study, centering on associational mentoring among members of the Northwest Archivists (NWA), discerned that three-quarters of mentors and 70% of mentees fully or generally agreed that their match proved salutary. 46 As an ancillary benefit, the vast majority (90%) of mentees said that participating in the program improved their opinions of NWA. 47 A third study (a meta-analysis that included both academic and professional settings) found mentoring significantly related to numerous positive outcomes, from attitudinal and interpersonal to motivational, from health-related to career outcomes.…”