Author Archives

I'm a school librarian at Farragut Middle. I like the lib to be loud, messy, and full of student activity. I love tech stuff as much as I love books, and I'm part of an awesome rotating maker space.

• How Do You Stay Organized in the Library?

  By Mica Johnson on 05/16/2019 • ( 6 )

  

  My co-librarian and I are messy and disorganized. We love our work, we love our middle schoolers, but we do not love cleaning. As we’re were doing our end-of-the-year chores, we realized we need to make some major changes and… Read More ›

• Building Strong Communities

  By Mica Johnson on 04/24/2019 • ( 0 )

  During April we specifically celebrate School Library Month, but also in April is National Library Week (April 7-13, 2019) where all kinds of libraries get in on the celebrating. As school librarians my co-librarian and I generally focus on the… Read More ›

• More Support for Ending School Library Fines

  By Mica Johnson on 03/21/2019 • ( 6 )

  

  A couple of blog posts ago I wrote that I was evaluating my stance on school library fines. Since then my co-librarian has warmed up to the idea, and we’ve been planning how we are going to phase out fines…. Read More ›

• Project LIT in the Library

  By Mica Johnson on 02/25/2019 • ( 0 )

  

  Inspired by the work being done by the current AASL Induction Program cohort, my co-librarian and I decided to start a Project LIT book club chapter to support a school reading culture and facilitate discussions on diversity, bias, and other… Read More ›

• Inspire students with nonfiction!

  By Mica Johnson on 01/16/2019 • ( 0 )

  

  After a recent weeding bonanza where we tossed late 80s and early 90s versions of teen self-help and how-to guides, we decided to reinvest in those areas and create a Get Inspired subcollection featuring a wider variety of topics our… Read More ›

• Rethinking School Library Fines

  By Mica Johnson on 12/20/2018 • ( 10 )

  How does everyone feel about school library fines for late and lost books? Until recently, I’ve been mostly okay with the concept, especially in middle and high schools, but now I find myself questioning the effectiveness of library fines. Our… Read More ›

• This Is How We Help Future School Librarians

  By Mica Johnson on 11/27/2018 • ( 2 )

  Several years ago when my co-librarian switched from working in a law library to working in a public school library, her internship was something like our school district saying, ”We’re desperate. You’re hired.” A few years after that it was… Read More ›

• Scary Books for the Middle School Library

  By Mica Johnson on 10/18/2018 • ( 0 )

  

  Horror is my absolute favorite fiction genre, and October is my excuse, or very good reason, to pull most of our scary books for a display. Not that we have to really promote scary books; we have a horde of… Read More ›

• Graphic Novelizations in the ELA Classroom

  By Mica Johnson on 09/21/2018 • ( 0 )

  

  Using graphic format texts to support English language learners (ELL) has been widely discussed and accepted among educators, librarians, and other stakeholders. When adding to our graphic format collection we look at student requests, blogs, professional reviews, etc…all the resources… Read More ›

• Do School Libraries Need Magazines?

  By Mica Johnson on 08/15/2018 • ( 7 )

  

  Are print magazines still in school libraries? We have them in our middle school library, but where there were two stands this time last year, we are down to only one. Several magazines we used to carry are currently unavailable… Read More ›