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About Me



About Me:

My name is Abby Johnson and I'll be your blogger today. (You can view my visual resume here.)

I am the Collection Development Leader at the Floyd County Library in New Albany, IN, where I have worked since 2009. New Albany is a small town just across the Ohio River from Louisville, KY where I was born and raised. I've loved books and reading since I can remember. My mom tells me that my first word was "book". Library day was my favorite day when I was in school.

I attended Indiana University in Bloomington and majored in psychology before returning to IU and completing my Master's in Library Science in 2006. From there I ventured north and worked at the Barrington Area Library with a team of really awesome librarians. I loved living in the library-rich area of the northwest suburbs of Chicago, but when I had the chance to move back to my hometown, I had to take it!

I love being a librarian because I love working with books and I am lucky to have some freedom to pursue projects I'm excited about, like our StoryWalk and our Firefly Book Award Kits. Before I moved into Collection Development full time, I was the Youth Services Manager at our library, which I also loved. Check out A Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian if you want to know more about how I spent my days as a Children's Librarian.

I started this blog in 2007 because I was already following some of the great KidLitosphere blogs and I wanted to join in the conversation. 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'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. Since I have moved into a non-programming role at my library, I've refocused this blog on youth literature. My programming posts are still available for you to peruse, but I'm not typically presenting programs anymore (occasionally they do let me out of the office to do a storytime).

When I'm not working or blogging, you can find me reading (of course), singing in the Indiana University Southeast Community Chorus, and hanging out with my husband and cat.

You can also find me on:
I'm a member of the American Library Association (including ALSC). I was a monthly contributor to the ALSC Blog from 2010 to 2016 (see my ALSC Blog posts here!) and I was selected as a member of ALA's 2011 Class of Emerging Leaders. I have served on the Young Hoosier Book Award Committee, the ILF District 6 Committee, the ALSC Quicklists Consulting Committee and the 2015 Newbery Committee.

I am a freelance writer and I contribute to NoveList and School Library Journal on the regular.

Want to know more?  Look for posts with the tag "Who Is Abby Anyway" for more tidbits about me.

Please feel free to email me any time at abbylibrarian@gmail.com.

Updated: January 7, 2020