Blog Review: Abby the Librarian

Abby the Librarian, http://www.abbythelibrarian.com, is a blog run by Abby Johnson, a children's librarian in Indiana. As she explains, her blog aims to give an idea of the day to day life of a children's librarian, as well as ideas for programming: "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." She also reviews children's books.

Audience:
The audience for this blog is other children's librarians as well as students who are aspiring to become children's librarians.

Strengths:
Offers varied content
Well-written and informative
Lots of good ideas for all levels of librarianship, from beginners to the experienced librarian

Weaknesses:
It can be difficult to find what one is looking for, especially if one can't remember how it was tagged
Some of the tags are not descriptive enough
Some of the content is a bit thin

Uses:
One really good use for this blog is for students in library schools, especially those who want to become children's or young adult librarians, to get an idea of the day to day life of a children's librarian, something that can be very hard to envision from a classroom. These posts are tagged as "day in the life." The "So You Want to be a Librarian" tab also contains many useful sources on this topic. Another good use for this blog is for current children's librarians, especially those who are just starting out - Abby provides many idea for programming, collection development, and staff development. She also reviews materials with an eye toward children's services (although this is currently suspended, until after the voting for the 2015 Newberry).

Similar Blogs:
Some other blogs that might be of interest to those who like Abby the Librarian are The Adventures of Library Girl and Confessions of a Real Librarian.
A great resource for these and other blogs is the KidLit Blogosphere, which is a curated listing of blogs that focus on children's and young adult's services and materials, including blogs written by authors, illustrators, publishers, and editors as well as those blogging about the field as a whole. Another interesting place to look is Salem Press's list of Quirky Library Blogs. This blog list does not focus on children's services, but several of the blogs listed are focused on children's and young adult resources and services.

Awards:
Abby was recently named a member of the 2015 Newberry committee and was one of the 2011 ALA Emerging Leaders.  The blog itself has not won any awards.