Jeff Sundquist, Julie Artman, and Douglas R. Dechow. Your Craft as a Teaching Librarian : Using Acting Skills to Create a Dynamic Presence, Chicago, IL: ALA Editions, 2022. 130p. Paper, $52.00 (ISBN: 978-0-8389-3917-8).

Abstract

Your Craft as a Teaching Librarian is a revised and expanded edition of The Craft of Librarian Instruction, published in 2016. Authors Sundquist (Dean of the Library at Monterey Peninsula College), Artman (librarian at Chapman University with experience as a theatre director, producer, acting coach, and actor), and Dechow (digital humanities and science librarian at Chapman University) state on page one of the prologue that they “hope to demonstrate how acting techniques can sharpen your instructional skills and establish your teaching identity, enliven your performance, and create an invigorating (and stress-free) learning experience for your students.” They maintain that the book is “intended for newly hired instruction librarians, librarians with little or no teaching experience, those dealing with shyness or stage fright, as well as more experienced librarians in need of a refreshed perspective” (p. viii).