Peer Group Mentoring Relationships and the Role of Narrative

Mentoring, an established practice in many disciplines, provides benefits to both individuals and organizations. Academic libraries recognize the usefulness of mentoring, and many provide such programs within their organization, ranging from formal one-on-one pairings to mentoring groups. Although literature describing a variety of mentoring systems is available, the role of personal and collective narrative in transferring knowledge within mentoring situations is not well known. This article examines the intentional use of narrative in mentoring new academic librarians in a peer group setting. Discussion suggests group mentoring based on narrative is an effective and efficient alternative to traditional mentoring.