ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


March 1991/175

Letters

P resen tation s

To the editor:
As a recent scientist-turned-librarian, I read 

with great interest Mignon Adams’s contribution to 
the January 1991 issue of C&RL News, “Making 
your presentation communicate” (34—35). I agree 
wholeheartedly that librarians could learn a great 
deal from scientists about making effective presen­
tations. Furthermore, I believe that science can 
serve as a role model for librarianship not just in the 
quality of visual aids used in presentations but in 
other ways as well.

Library education could take a lesson from 
graduate science education in the methods used to 
train presenters. I have observed that, aside from a 
number of short, relatively informal presentations, 
library school offers few opportunities to commu­
nicate research or other ideas in a public forum. 
This is in contrast to the extensive training that I 
received as a graduate student in science.

In the zoology department where I received my 
first master’s and Ph.D. degrees, students were 
required to enroll in at least one one-credit “semi­
nar” course per semester. The seminar was coordi­
nated by a faculty member and usually had a theme 
(e.g., smooth muscle physiology, organic evolution,

etc.). Each student selected a topic, researched the 
literature on that topic, and made a formal presen­
tation with visuals (usually slides). Each presenta­
tion lasted about 45 minutes and was followed by 
15 minutes for questions. Through these seminars, 
we learned how to organize material for an oral 
presentation, how to make our own slides, how to 
decide what slides to make, how to remain profes­
sionally poised during an oral presentation, and 
how to handle a period of questions. We learned 
that effective presentations are not created over­
night. We learned from our own mistakes, from the 
mistakes of other students, and from input from the 
faculty.

In addition to these seminars, my fellow gradu­
ate students and I had many formal opportunities 
to present our research and ideas in another rela­
tively unthreatening setting—local, state, and re­
gional meetings.

Presentations by librarians could be enhanced 
by greater training in oral communication skills in 
library school and through the promotion of alter­
nate forms of presentation such as posters.

— Natalie S. King, Assistant Director, Shiffman 
Medical Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, 
Michigan

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