The APALA Mentoring Program provides professional and personal development, inspiration, and encouragement through supportive mentoring relationships. Mentors provide guidance and coaching to library students and emergent librarians about their careers and growth as professionals. Every year, the APALA Mentoring Committee recruits participants from the APALA mentorship, matching mentoring pairs based on the protégé’s goals, the type of library they work in or would like to work in, geographic location, and availability of mentors.
As the year wraps up, mentors and protégés reflect on their partnerships. Here, Di Zhang (Mentor) and Jason Tsai (Protégé).
Di Zhang (Mentor)
I feel incredibly honored witnessing Jason’s development as an early-career librarian and future library leader through APALA’s mentorship program. We bonded over our shared ethnic backgrounds, mutual interest in AI literacy, and passion for lifelong learning—connections that made our relationship both meaningful and productive.
One highlight was collaborating on a “Local Media and Democracy” panel that drew over 120 attendees. Jason recruited a former classmate who works as a Social Media and Video Editor at a news station, helped craft thoughtful questions, and monitored Zoom interactions during the discussion. His invaluable insights helped create a program that received rave reviews.
Jason recently received his library system’s Fresh Paint Award—an annual peer-nominated award for customer service given to a new employee “who brought the freshest coat (of paint) and has already left their mark in a short period of time.” Jason most certainly brings a fresh coat of paint and a fresh breath of air to our profession!
What I’ve discovered is that mentoring is beautifully reciprocal. Jason is such an intelligent, forward-thinking self-starter that I’ve benefited tremendously from our relationship. Our brainstorming sessions about library issues—from DEI to AI to professional development—are incredibly rewarding and fruitful. We’re both committed to taking AI courses and comparing notes, and we look forward to collaborating and learning together after the mentorship program.
The APALA network has been transformative for my career. I may not have attained my current position without connections made at a local APALA dinner. Now, being established enough to sponsor and guide other library professionals feels like completing a meaningful circle. I’ve introduced Jason to three of my mentors of color in the library world to help him navigate his future as a library professional. I’m excited to meet Jason in person and share space at next year’s Joint Conference for Librarians of Color in Spokane!
Jason Tsai (Protégé)
When I first applied for the APALA mentorship, I was juggling two different part-time jobs in a community college library and a public library while finishing up my MLIS online. Like with many other graduates, the job anxiety was real: I was not in a position to move for a job and competition was heavy for the few full-time positions in my community. Even though I was fortunate in attaining a full-time librarian role soon after graduating and beginning the mentorship program, I knew I needed help. I initially sought a space for dialogue that existed beyond my immediate work environment. Meeting Ray Pun, Jaena Rae Cabrera, and other members of APALA at my first conference experience (ALA LibLearn X 2024) introduced me to this space and new possibilities. As a post-pandemic career switcher pivoting back to librarianship, I sought the guidance of one with more experience who would not judge me for my unconventional background and connect me to a larger community of like minded professionals. Di was the peer mentor that I needed at this critical time.
During our first meetings, we discussed what it meant to us to be librarians, especially as librarians of color. We conversed at length about our passion for information literacy instruction, accessibility, and the possibilities of AI in library services. We developed SMART goals that were tenable within the mentorship’s scope and to establish the foundation for future collaboration. Di helped me evaluate and translate my customer service skills to the public library setting and better understand how to navigate library spaces. He went the extra mile to connect me with his mentors to provide me with a greater network of resources, to ground achievements and titles in approachable relationships instead. By inviting me to help moderate a panel with him through Fix Democracy First, Di gave me valuable first-hand experience in virtual collaboration and how our work as librarians can extend to a much larger context. Through these experiences, I developed a much better awareness of my niche, professional values, and means to pursue further personal and career development.
It would be an understatement to say that I found a work brother in Di Zhang. We may be on opposite sides of the country, but it has been remarkable how similar we are in our concerns for our respective communities and our passion for lifelong learning, especially in these times of rapidly evolving technology and untread political landscape. Without this program, I would not be as confident in my professional identity and pursuits. More than lending a guiding hand, the APALA Mentorship Program elevated my capabilities so that I can walk with a steadier stride as part of a fellowship.
Bios
Jason Tsai is a teen services librarian at Henrico County Public Library. Before pivoting back to pursuing a library career after the pandemic, Jason had been a pastry cook, food justice advocate, amateur urban farmer, radio station production assistant, tutor, and library assistant. Jason is a proud LSU MLIS graduate and a Longwood Lancer with a BA in English minoring in Communication Studies. When he’s not working with teens on volunteer projects and technology education programs or geeking out about science fiction and linguistics, Jason can be found concocting new recipes at home with his partner and cats or listening to another YA fantasy on audiobook while adventuring online in World of Warcraft.
Di Zhang is the Instruction & Open Educational Resources Librarian at Renton Technical College in Washington state. He previously worked at The Seattle Public Library, where he developed The Fake News Survival Guide, a media literacy class that he is currently remaking into a Media Lit Toolkit. Di holds an MLIS and a bachelor’s in philosophy from the University of Washington. When not in the library, he’s in a jiu jitsu class attempting not to get choked out or catching the latest UFC event with his partner and two kids.
Mentors and protégés apply for the program in the summer and participate from September through June. For more information about when applications open for next year, please visit our Mentoring Program webpage and keep an eye out for an announcement via the APALA member listserv.