Reflections from a 2025 NAHSL MLA Scholarship award winner.
I was lucky enough to attend my first MLA annual conference this year. There were so many fascinating talks that it made it difficult to narrow down which ones to discuss; however, one that really resonated with me was Emily Joseph’s presentation “Melodic Pedagogy: Transforming Library Instruction with Performance Arts.” This talk was full of excellent suggestions for making instruction more engaging for students and natural for presenters. Before this presentation, I had never thought about how music could have such a strong impact on librarianship. Music made up a large portion of my formative years and, while I’m not nearly as accomplished as Ms. Joseph, her talk was very persuasive and easy to connect with. I admittedly struggle with instruction (I certainly fit the introverted librarian stereotype), so I plan to implement this advice into my practice.
One topic that was heavily stressed was deliberate practice. Instruction requires practice, and practice sessions can be made more productive by identifying and intentionally refining specific skills. One way to identify areas of improvement is to record lessons and look at tone, pace, and body language. Another way is to ask others to watch and provide feedback—though terrifying to know others are judging you, colleagues can provide so many insights that you might overlook. Deliberate practice also calls for repetition to ensure practice sessions stick. My high school band director always said, “Practice makes permanent, not perfect.” That is, perfect practice will make permanently perfect performances. This isn’t always achievable, but deliberate practice sets out to get as close as possible.
Physical presence and improvisation were other topics Ms. Joseph touched upon. Posture, body language, and movement are all part of the performance. Ms. Joseph gave excellent advice for ensuring good posture for projection when sitting or standing. I also appreciated her discussion of improvisation, as it’s a skill I greatly admire. She explained that improv requires a good foundation of the material—knowing the subject, researching what experts have done before, and understanding key takeaways from their performances. It helps to come prepared with examples, but there also may be times when students may ask unanticipated questions.
Ms. Joseph suggested collaborating with colleagues while practicing and having them purposefully try to throw you off. Ms. Joseph did a wonderful job breaking down various aspects of performance into digestible tidbits, and her suggestions were spot-on. This discussion is yet more evidence of the interdisciplinary nature of music and how useful it is no matter what situation you may find yourself in. Thank you very much to NAHSL for this opportunity! The funding kindly provided made this trip possible, and I am very grateful for the support.
Emily Cerri
Health Sciences Librarian
Interprofessional Health Sciences Library, Seton Hall University
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