Content: Professional Knowledge

Type: Podcast

Length: 1 Hour

Level: Library Professionals

Organisers: School Librarians United

Presenters: Amy Hermon and Daniel Miller

Format: A one hour podcast

Reflection

Objectives: This episode of School Librarians United was focused on authors and author presentations in the libraries. The guest speaker, Daniel Miller, spoke about what he, as an illustrator, wants out of student talks. He spoke about wanting to speak to as many students as possible. He also spoke about how the opportunity can influence students who may not be the chosen audience for the talk, and how it can benefit every single student in the school.

Reasons for attending: Similar to my other posts on School Librarians United, I selected this one as author talks are a foreign concept to me, at least in a professional sense. Having attended author talks, mostly in primary school, I was interested in the inner workings and machinations of what goes into an author talk.

Relation to studies and learning outcomes: Aside from general concepts about patron engagement and education, this podcast talked a lot about the considerations that go into planning the event; the audience, the space, the props. All of this resonated with concepts of project and event management that I am currently studying. From the podcast I learnt a lot about how interacting with the guest can help the library create the best possible experience for students. I found that it is important to see what the guest wants to get out of the students, as this can help inform the time needed, the students needed, and which space would make for the best presentation.

Future Uses: The information I got from this episode will greatly inform any choices I make for author talks, ensuring I speak to the guest and see how they present; are they interactive, do they want a discussion or a presentation type talk. It also gives me a framework from which to pitch any author talks, being able to cite it as a real person’s example of how they conduct these talks.

Evidence: Screenshot during podcast

Screenshot during podcast

Link: https://schoollibrariansunited.libsyn.com/177-what-authors-wished-we-knew