The End is Near
Posted December 14, 2020 by Sarah Callanan
Can you believe it’s almost the end of the semester? The end of the semester is always such a crazy time, with due dates and projects. Since my last post, I’ve had two assignments due, and my big semester-long project is due next week. It is definitely crunch time!
As I discussed in an earlier post, my semester-long project is the Electronic Resources in Libraries Case Study Project where we do a thorough investigation of an academic library’s electronic resources offering with a partner. My team is investigating the resources of MCPHS University, as that is where both of us work. It’s a huge project—we’ve had to interview the electronic resources librarian, thoroughly investigate the databases, the research guides, the different ways to search the library’s resources, and more. My team has been working really diligently throughout the semester and having regular virtual meetings to check in and go over our project, so we’re doing pretty well progress-wise. I’m not too worried about our actual written report, the thing that I am nervous about is our presentation. I’ve done plenty of presentations at Simmons; however, this is a Zoom class and we have to give our presentation live. I haven’t had to do any live presentations since I was in undergrad—all presentations that I’ve done at Simmons have been recorded using VoiceThread or some other technology. It’s been years since I’ve had to do a presentation in front of a group, and this presentation is twenty-two minutes long (nineteen minutes for the actual presentation, three minutes for Q&A). That is such a long time. I’m great at creating presentations, but actually giving them and talking in front of people isn’t exactly my cup of tea—public speaking isn’t my forte. One would think that knowing this is a Zoom presentation would eliminate any nervousness; however, that is not the case. Oh well—this is good public speaking practice, right? Practice makes perfect! We’ll see how it goes! Wish me luck!