Goals

• Bring people together to build individual capacity and empowerment
• Increase diversity in participation, interaction and presentation at Samvera Connect
• Break down barriers to entry and provide a welcoming orientation to the Samvera community
• Strengthen the Samvera community by learning from mentees and diverse voices

Structure

The structure of the relationship between mentor and mentee can and should be defined at the outset by the parties involved. However, here are a few simple guidelines you may want to consider so that both of you can define a rewarding relationship:

• Define clear, achievable goals for what you're hoping to get out of Samvera Connect. "Learn about Samvera Architecture" or "Engage with the community" are OK, but may not be specific enough to help you succeed. "Determine what level of architecture should hold this feature or design" or "What group(s) could I contribute to, and how, given my interest and skills in linked data" would be better.
• Be explicit about your expectations. For example:
  • Set aside time each day of Samvera Connect to check in.
  • Establish a communication plan including preferred channel(s) and expected response time in advance.
• Evaluation: We would love to know what worked or didn't work for advice to future mentors and mentees. Please send feedback to Samvera-steering@groups.google.com. A survey will also be sent out post-SamveraConnect to be shared with Samvera Connect Meetings and Samvera Board membership. Based on the feedback from the inaugural mentorship program at Hydra Connect 2016, the mentors and mentees will be matched earlier to be able to provide advice on session attendance.

Signup

Sign up to be a mentor: https://goo.gl/forms/RkaoFWvU3gaS1Jos1

Sign up to be a mentee: https://goo.gl/forms/Km6CaSDir3DHThtq1

Communication Channels

This is generally worked out between the mentor and the mentee.

• Instant Messenger
• Slack: http://samvera.slack.com/, Signup form
• Email
• Text/Phone

Participants

Participants will be paired by a subgroup from Samvera Connect Program Committee and Samvera Board membership based on responses in the sign-up forms.  Mentors and Mentees will be notified of pairing approx. one month prior to Samvera Connect 2017. If you have concerns about your match-up or would like to be matched up with someone else, you can let us know.

Adapted from Code4Lib's Mentorship Program