Mentor to: Maria Politano, Courtney Park Branch, Mississauga Library System

Jane Crozier, Manager of the Children's Department at the Mississauga Central Library acted as the first professional mentor I had. Even though I had been out of library school for a number of years when I went to work in the Children's Department Jane took me under her wing.

The Role of mentor was very important to Jane. She once told me that as a young librarian she had been fortunate to have a mentor and that it was important to her to continue the cycle. Jane has been dead a number of years now and, Lord Knows, she wasn't always an easy woman to work with but I truly credit her with a large hand in my success.

Jane taught me to look for mentors where I could find them and that such relationships can bring unexpected and surprising rewards. As important is that she instilled in me the need to share what I have learned with others and to look for opportunities to act as mentor myself, to continue the cycle.