Mentoring: A process for Successful Collaboration and Capacity Building for Library and Information Science (LIS) Educators

Abstract

The paper explore stages and forms as well as rationale for mentoring leading to successful collaboration and capacity building of Library and Information Science Educators; stages for mentoring include setting goals and objectives; actualization and termination while forms of formal mentoring includes: individual, peer and group. Rationale for mentoring lies on transfer of good qualities, retirement and death old generation of LIS educators; leadership role as well as empirical evidence. Mentoring takes place through collaboration such as collaborative teaching and learning, research and publication, community services and stuff exchange programme. As for capacity building, mentoring can take place through participatory management, delegation, continuing professional development and project supervision. Mentoring is a one-way traffic characterized by lack of encouragement by mentor as well as misplacement of priority are regarded as obstacles to mentoring. The paper concluded that mentoring is a universal and general field of human endeavor regardless of one’s field of study. The paper recommended amongst that: working tools and enabling environment be provided for enhancement of good and successful mentoring