Public speaking
Library schools don’t usually tell students that public speaking is an important librarian skill. So I’m telling you: public speaking is an important librarian skill. If you can’t do it, or you’re scared of it, do whatever you have to in order to get better.
When Ruritania asked me to do a presentation, I was surprised but not at all displeased. I happen to be one of those bizarre souls who is basically introverted but doesn’t at all mind getting up in front of a roomful of people and yacking her fool head off. Largely because I’ve done it so often in the last five years, I’ve even gotten reasonably skilled at it. (Well, all right, the last eight years if one counts my teaching experience, I suppose. But teaching and speaking, while certainly allied skills, aren’t entirely congruent either.)
What I didn’t know then but know now is that presentations are a common, near-universal part of the academic-librarian hiring process, presumably analogous to the lecture every candidate for a non-library tenure-track faculty position has to give. From what I’m reading on other library jobseekers’ blogs, public libraries often ask for presentations also.
If you’re about to go on the library job market, I recommend working up one or two presentations in areas of interest to you (as always, picking a “hot topic” in your field is a good idea), because some places will let you decide what you’re going to present. Be prepared, however, for employers to come to you with topics of their own. The standard length for these is 20 to 25 minutes, and don’t go over, because your time and theirs on an interview day is stringently scheduled.
You don’t have to be Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or S.R. Ranganathan to give a good presentation. (I’m certainly not. If you want to see a sample of me extempore, hop over here and watch. See? I told you, the bar is not that high.) Remember, the folks you’re up against are librarians too. If you’re not a natural speaker, the best thing you can possibly do is pick a topic you’re interested in (if, of course, you have the choice), and let your interest shine through what you’re saying. That will do wonders for how your listeners perceive you and your talk.
This is so important, and I see so little addressing it (publishing? lots. speaking? not so much), that I’m tempted to write it up more formally and at greater length for liscareer.com or similar. You guys get the preview. Do take it to heart, if you’re searching.