Jean Lin (Protégé)
When I signed up for APALA’s mentorship program in the summer of 2025, I was just about to start my MLIS program at UCLA. It was my first time getting involved with APALA and the field of librarianship overall. My studies marked the end of a career break for me, and I looked forward to a new path in public librarianship. After conducting a number of informational interviews with incredible public librarians who shared their time, insights, and experiences with me, I felt like I had firmly decided that I wanted to work in public libraries. If there was a way to maybe use some of my skills in data, that would be cool too.
Then, I was paired with Beth Whipple—Interim Director of Informationist Services at John Hopkins University’s Welch Medical Library—and I feel like I’ve done a few backflips and cartwheels in my career path. Over the course of the past year, I’ve gotten to know Beth and her work, and get a peek of what it’s like to work as a medical and health science librarian. And now, it’s what I want to do.
I can’t stress enough how little knowledge I had about med/health sciences. It wasn’t on my radar at all. And here’s where I gush about how incredible and valuable Beth’s mentorship has been to me—she so patiently explained basic things like, “What is a medical library, and what exactly happens in one?” We’ve also discussed the minutiae: the lifecycle of a systematic review, GenAI use in medical education, Research Data Access and Preservation (RDAP), and her personal beef with UpToDate. She put me in contact with med librarians she knew on the west coast. She’s talked about the different types of professional organizations and conferences for medical libraries. She’s written countless letters of recommendation for my various scholarship applications. I’ve been able to bring every conversation I’ve had with her into a course assignment or project of some kind.
Outside of the technical work, she’s also shared thoughtful insights and reflections about leadership—especially as a woman, and an Asian woman at that. We’ve shared frustrations, learning moments, and funny stories about what it’s like to navigate leadership roles, manage professional relationships, and overall stay sane in this profession. She reminds me to take breaks. She celebrates my wins with me. There’s still a lot for me to learn, but I feel confident and safe in knowing that I have Beth in my corner.
I’m so lucky. Getting to know her has been an immense honor and privilege, and I’m incredibly grateful to APALA for the opportunity through the mentorship program. While our “mandatory” commitment of this year-long mentorship is over, we’re most definitely keeping in touch through the end of my MLIS studies. I also don’t think Beth knows that she can’t get rid of me.
Beth Whipple (Mentor)
When I signed up for APALA’s mentorship program in the summer of 2025, it was my first time getting involved with APALA. As a medical and health sciences librarian of 20 years, serving as Jean’s mentor has been a wonderful opportunity to support the next generation of leaders in librarianship.
When Jean told me she was interested in public libraries and data science, I told her that I don’t know much about working as a public librarian, but I do have some experience with data science, academic librarianship, and mainly health sciences and medical librarianship. I wanted to make sure she could get what she needed from a mentor in this program. While I didn’t want to bias her to my area of librarianship (ok, maybe a little bit), I have enjoyed our discussions every month and also connecting her with folks I know. One of my favorite parts of this profession are the people and communities that you find in librarianship, and getting to introduce great people (Jean) to other great people. 🙂
As I’ve gotten to know her, her growth mindset, an ability to listen to others, and vision and energy to start and move projects forward has been impressive. She has taken on leadership roles since the very beginning of her library science career–she is so much more engaged and forward thinking than I was when I was in library school, and I just feel in awe to be able to come alongside and champion and support Jean.
I am impressed how Jean continually has taken, sought, and created opportunities to grow through her program. Not only has she sought out a variety of internships, she has taken leadership roles within her program, and has a mindset to leave things better than when she got there. Recognizing how she benefited from the ALA Spectrum Scholar program, she wanted to share all that she has learned with her cohort at UCLA. To this end, she served as a student officer for the student chapter of ALA at UCLA, and dreamed up and led an ALA Scholarships information session to help encourage colleagues to apply.
Not surprisingly, while Jean is learning from my experience, I am learning a lot by talking to her; our conversations allow me space to reflect on my experiences. Our mentor/protégé relationship has been incredibly mutually beneficial and rewarding, and I look forward to seeing her name on my calendar each month. And while the program technically ends this summer, Jean hasn’t quit me yet, and I look forward to meeting her in person in November when I am out in Anaheim for a work meeting!
Bios
Jean Lin (she/her/hers) is working towards her Master’s in Library and Information Science at UCLA, with interests in data services and Open Access (OA) principles. She currently serves on the Student Governing Board for UCLA’s Department of Information Studies and leads IT-IS, a student organization focused on data science, privacy, and ethics in librarianship. Most recently, she’s interned for ITHAKA, the organization behind JSTOR. She’s always interested in meaningful ways of bridging data and people, and is currently exploring medical and health science librarianship as a career path.
Beth Whipple (she/her/hers) is currently Associate Director of Informationist Services and Interim Director of the Welch Medical Library at Johns Hopkins University. In these roles, she leads an expert team of managers, informationists, and IT/digital systems specialists serving the information needs of, and collaborating with, faculty, researchers, clinicians and students. She is a recent Midwest transplant to Maryland and appreciates the Maryland flag being plastered on anything imaginable.