Blog Review

Abby the Librarian
by Abby Johnson

Abby Johnson is a children's librarian in New Albany, Indiana who uses her blog as a place to post book reviews, storytime ideas and articles aimed at helping recent MLIS grads navigate their new library careers. She has been blogging at Abby the Librarian since 2007 and explains her purpose in the blog’s “About” section:

I love blogging because it gives me a chance to connect with great people all over the country and the world and because it's helped me hone my writing and reviewing skills.

Helping and mentoring new librarians and library school students is a passion of mine and you'll find many of my posts written with that audience in mind. (I am still new-ish, so I remember how it feels to be just starting out.) I'm also a firm believer that all librarians benefit from the sharing of program ideas, program outlines, and general posts about how things are done at different libraries. I try to give you a slice of life at my library here.

In her book reviews, Ms. Johnson primarily discusses middle-grade (and some YA) realistic and historical fiction, middle-grade narrative nonfiction and nonfiction picture books. Her reviews are well organized and all arranged the same way: publication information and a photo of the cover, a booktalk/plot overview, her personal thoughts on the book and finally a section on readalikes. As the blog is geared toward librarians, Ms. Johnson makes sure to discuss the audience and uses for the books she reviews.

Ms. Johnson also documents a project she calls “Reading Wildly”, which she designed to help her staff broaden their reading with the goal of offering better readers’ advisory services to patrons. Each month participants are required to read from a chosen genre: sports, horse books, scary books, realistic fiction, etc. They then discuss the books at a staff meeting, and Ms. Johnson catalogs them in a blog post. She reports great success, both in staff engagement and improved readers’ advisory.

The blog also features an extensive catalog of storytimes Ms. Johnson has developed and implemented in a library setting. She organizes them by them and date, and provides the music, books and activities she used for each program. She also provides alternative book suggestions if the reader’s library does not have the ones she used.

The final major section of Abby the Librarian is called “So You Want to Be a Librarian”, and it is a collection of blog posts (both her own and from other librarian bloggers) about becoming and being a librarian. Articles include “So You Want to Go to Library School”, “A Day in the Life of a Children’s Librarian” and “Job Hunting for Librarians”.  Real-world advice like this from professionals in the field is extremely helpful for those thinking about becoming librarians or just entering school or the workforce.

Abby Johnson’s blog is a terrific resource for librarians, library students or anyone thinking about becoming a librarian, particularly if they are interested in children’s services. She offers readers’ advisory information but also discusses many issues involving the day-to-day life of a library worker. I highly recommend Abby the Librarian for librarians and MLIS students interested in how other librarians do their jobs.