NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 23 number 1 - Fall 2002

By Nancy Vaupel, Scholarly Communication and External Relations

When asked in spring 2001 if she would once again participate as a mentor in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Leadership and Career Development Program (LCDP), Vice Provost and Director of Libraries Susan Nutter said, "yes!" That August, Nutter was introduced to her protege, Vanessa Middleton, who is the electronic services librarian and research and support consultation coordinator at Wayne State University. Twenty-four librarians (or proteges) were selected to participate in the 2001-2002 ARL program.

Middleton is a high achiever. She received a B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.A.L.I.S. from Wayne State University. In addition to winning the Alfred E. Edwards Scholarship at the University of Michigan, Middleton is the recipient of a Michigan Library Association Conference Scholarship, an Urban Library Fellowship, and a Wayne State University Special Dean's Merit Scholarship. At Wayne State, she served as a member of the President's Commission on the Status of Women. Before her current position at Wayne State, she worked as a librarian at the Ford Motor Company-Visteon, Baker College, Kalamazoo Public Library, and Detroit Public Library. While in Kalamazoo, she received several awards, including a Kalamazoo Gazette Accolade Award.

According to ARL's Program Officer for Training and Diversity Camille Hazeur, "the goal [of the mentoring relationship] . . . is to connect promising librarians from minority backgrounds with ARL member leaders in a learning relationship . . . according to research topics of mutual interest." Web-based distance education served as the topic of mutual interest that brought Middleton and Nutter together. In keeping with Middleton's research focus on international efforts in librarianship, her project was a feasibility study of Web-based distance education collaboration between Wayne State University and the Cheikh Anta Diop University Library in Senegal, West Africa, which involved librarians, faculty, and students.

The LCDP curriculum, an innovative career development approach, is built on six components: an organizing meeting, two five-day institutes, a mentoring relationship, research project development, three Web-based leadership courses, and a closing ceremony. Nutter values ARL's LCDP as being an extremely effective way to help increase the number of librarians from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in leadership positions in research libraries.

According to Middleton, the varied interaction between herself and Nutter "provided a holistic mentoring experience. The mentoring component was and will continue to be the most rewarding for me personally and professionally. I was truly inspired by and motivated by Susan Nutter to achieve and obtain a leadership position within the library profession.