Unraveling the ‘Secrets of the Craft’: Mentoring as a Device for Demystifying Technical Services for Students

The technical service processes are frequently either unknown or a mystery to students of library and information science. Various methods can help instruct students about the technical services. Since 1995, Technical Services Functions, a graduate level course offered at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has included a mentoring component partnering students with librarians or archivists actively working in technical services relatedwork. The processes, perceptions, outcomes, problems and successes of this experience are detailed.