Mentoring Future Archivists

Posted February 10, 2026 by Laura Kiely

I have been asked on a few occasions to act as a mentor to future archivists, usually undergraduate students with an interest in archives management. I find these requests very complimentary, as it indicates that people find me to be a good source of information and guidance for students. These asks have come from friends, career advisors, and professors I know personally, and the students are usually juniors or seniors in college. From my experience, there are two sorts of requests: introductions and requests to give out my contact information. 

When I am asked to talk to a student about Simmons SLIS, it is usually from a career advisor or a professor working to connect their student with someone that they know is in the next phase of education in the library sciences. Often, the professor will reach out to me and ask if I am willing to be connected with the student. I agree to answer the student’s questions. Student follow-through on actually asking their questions is fairly intermittent, I have found. In some cases, the authority figure emails us both and I reply to introduce myself, which tends to get a response from the student with their questions. This is preferable to me, because it tends to be effective. I recently had an exchange with an undergraduate student who asked me a series of questions over a couple weeks. It was positive for me and informative for her. 

When I am not given an opportunity to introduce myself it tends to go like this: I respond in the affirmative to the authority figure, they give my contact information to the student, and the student either forgets or is too nervous to cold email me. Rarely, if ever, does the student reach out, in my experience. These students are usually being told to talk to someone in the field, or are students from my undergrad being connected to me via professors or staff I worked with when I attended. This always disappoints me a little bit. I enjoy speaking with students about grad school, archives, and library work, hence why I tend to reach out when I have the opportunity to speak with a student. 

I am certainly not the norm when it comes to mentors. I am very responsive, in part because I am still a graduate student, and want to make a good impression on authority figures in my field. I highly recommend that, if you have been given contact information, you should reach out and cold email potential mentors. They have likely been alerted to you and your interest, and a lack of follow-through is unprofessional. Reach out, introduce yourself, and ask your questions. That will leave the mentor with a better impression of both you and your professor. People want to be asked for help, so just ask!