New Interim Director Starts at New City Library

As the result of a unanimous vote at a board of trustees meeting May 7, Maurice J. (Mitch) Freedman was appointed interim director of the New City Library, effective Monday, May 13.

“New City Library has so many positives going for it,” Freedman said. “It’s a welcoming, bustling place with a dedicated, knowledgeable and hardworking staff. Among the library’s strengths is the second largest collection of books, DVDs and other library materials in the county, as well as the second highest circulation of materials in the county – the latter demonstrates the quality, not just the quantity, of the collection. Clearly people are finding what they want at their New City Library.”

Freedman has an MLS from Berkeley and a PhD from Rutgers in Library and Information Studies. He has been the publisher, since 2000, of the quarterly “The Unabashed Librarian.” He was president of the American Library Association, and has spoken or consulted in close to 30 countries.

His career includes management positions at the Library of Congress, Information Dynamics Corp., the Hennepin County (MN) Library, The New York Public Library, and as director of the Westchester Library System, a position he held for 23 years, and from which he retired in 2005. He also was an associate professor at Columbia University’s School of Library Service.

Freedman has published prolifically and has won numerous awards for his achievements, ranging from the American Library Association’s highest award for achievement in Library and Information Technology to the Myron Isaacs Award from the ACLU’s Lower Hudson Chapter for his career-long support and defense of the First Amendment.

He continues to consult and speak internationally. Prior to coming to New City, Freedman served as the interim director for the Purchase Free and Nyack libraries, and was keynote speaker at a national conference of Canadian Academic Librarians.

“I welcome the opportunity to work with the board and the staff to meet the challenges of continuing to provide such a high level of service. With such building blocks I know that whatever obstacles there have been, the board, the staff and I will find the right paths to resolving them and making the New City Library the very best library it can be,” Freedman noted.

The community will have the opportunity to meet Freedman at a reception on Tuesday, May 28, 7 p.m. at the library.

“We look forward to this event that will bring together the board, the public and the staff in a warm social setting,” concluded Freedman.

  interim director of New City Library, Mitch Freedman, new city library