Public Speaking Handbook for Librarians and Information Professionals » (New Edition)

Statz, with the Madison, Wisconsin public library, explains the elements of the public speaking process, such as doing the prep work, imposing order, and discussion and participation. Then she surveys various environments in which librarians are apt to be caught at the practice, among them interviews, library instruction, meetings, and large groups. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Library Journal

When I was a grad student at Harvard Divinity School, I told a professor that I thought an acting course or at least a public speaking course should be required for all prospective preachers so they would learn that sermons, homilies, prayers, poems, etc., are not all given in the same tone nor at the same speed. Statz, a library assistant in the Madison Public Library system (WI) and a freelance indexer, attempts to cover for librarians and information professionals both the speaking role and the speaking environment. The 11 chapters, which are divided into two parts, each includes a summary, and Part 2 (chapters 7-11) gives suggested further readings. There are two appendixes, the first being a series of interviews with library professionals (the word professional is not defined), while the second consists of a speaker's bookshelf, i.e., an overview of sources that the author has used in her public speaking efforts. From meetings to formal presentations, book talks, library tours, interviewing, this work would be a good jumping-off point for those who think they'll never have to speak in public and/or those who dread doing so.-B. Susan Brown, Pamunkey Regional Lib., VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.