by Susie Lee
During library school—or perhaps just after—I attended the now defunct New York Librarians Meetup. After one event, I sat down with the organizer, Stephanie Gross, to ask what I could do early in my library career. She was gracious and kind and suggested that I should join some sort of AAPI librarian association to make valuable connections. That comment stuck with me, and I filed that away for later.
Life as a Mentee
When I finally started working my first full-time librarian job, I found out about APALA’s mentorship program and decided to join. I was matched up with Tommy Bui, who is a librarian at the Los Angeles County Library. While we are located on opposite coasts, we actually ended up meeting several times while he was in New York for various reasons, and we communicated by email over the course of a year. He offered me valuable feedback, guidance, and a one-man cheerleading squad. I don’t think I would have attempted and succeeded in doing a lot of what I have accomplished as a librarian without his support.
The other thing that really struck me about Tommy was his abundant enthusiasm and curiosity for life and his passion in achieving lofty goals while moving outside of his comfort zone. For instance, he served in the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan and Georgia, and he’s even run a marathon in Antarctica. This has inspired me to also attempt things that I would have been intimidated by when I was younger, whether it was co-organizing a panel on queer Asian American activism last year or traveling solo to what was once the heart of the Silk Road in Uzbekistan.
To this day, Tommy still updates me on the races he still partakes in even though our formal mentorship ended years ago. He continues to encourage me from far away in sunny Southern California.
Transitioning into Becoming a Mentor
After having such a great mentoring relationship with Tommy, I was inspired to become a mentor myself and have served in that role for three years in APALA. My most recent mentee was Shilpa Jacobie, who is currently working at the Peabody Institute Library in Danvers. During our mentorship we met virtually one Sunday a month most times throughout our tenure. I tried to help her in her job search, and a lot of our discussions involved venting about job difficulties (which hey, sometimes you need!). I was also interested in starting up a new environmental committee at my current job, and Shilpa gave me good advice and pointers in trying to begin something new and potentially very time-consuming. So as much as I was supposed to help her, she helped me as well.
Taking part in the mentorship program—first as a mentee and now a mentor, as someone 10 years into my career—has been both enlightening and illuminating. It’s helped me reflect on the progress I’ve made over the years, given me someone I can bounce ideas off of who knows exactly what I am talking about, inspired me to work harder and smarter, and also connected me to people I can invest in.
Abundance Mindsets and Mentorship
I would also like to compare my experience to something that happened to me in the past. Years ago I tried to connect with someone very successful who was working in a high-powered corporate job on LinkedIn—someone I thought I had a close relationship with. She actually rejected my request and said that some people used it to poach connections. That sort of scarcity mindset was jarring for me. That moment stuck with me as a way to not move about the world and life.
As I have matured, I have consciously decided to live differently. We all benefit when we share resources and pull people up, particularly those who are young, inexperienced, or both. My mindset is that there is plenty to go around and operating and living in the spirit of generosity and abundance—in work and life—is the way to go. So here’s to everyone who’s mentored me, formally or informally. And to those I’ve had the privilege of mentoring, and those I will meet in the future: thank you. For all the time, care, and attention you’ve given me—I am in deep gratitude.
Instagram: @theplantladylibrarian
Bio: I’ve been a librarian for a little over 10 years now with the majority of my career at Queens Library. At work and in my personal life I am heavily involved in plant programming such as plant swaps. In addition to my work around books I am also a writer and wannabe artist. I write mostly about my adventures with plants and books in my Substack (also @theplantladylibrarian). I also dabble in printmaking, photography (instant as well as digital) and zines (we just finished work on a Seven Sisters zine). For fun I enjoy making my own flavored iced teas (prickly pear iced tea with berries) and fusion food (pasta with birria sauce!).