Micki Freeny Interview

Project:  PGCMLS Oral History Project

Chapter: Micki Freeny Interview

Date: Feb 20, 2022

Participants: 

Interviewer: Hannah Erickson. 

Interviewee: Micki Freeny 

• 00:06 Hannah: All right. We are recording. Today is February 20th, 2024, at the Hyattsville Branch Library of the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System. My name is Hannah Erickson, Librarian II, and I'm here with Micki Freeny, former director of PGCMLS. We are recording an interview  with Micki as part of the PGCMLS oral history project. Hi, Micki. Thanks for being here with us today.

• 00:31 Micki: Thank you.
• 00:32 Hannah: Could you start by introducing yourself?
• 00:34 Micki: Well, I am Micki Freeny, as you mentioned, but that's not the simple answer because my legal name is Maralita Freeny, and people will see both those names and not know that that's one person. So, I was the director of the library from 1999 to 2008, but I started my career here at Prince George’s County Library in 1971. So I have a long history with the library.

• 01:03 Hannah: That was actually going to be one of my questions. When did you start with the library system? So, thanks for answering that - 1971. So that is a long history.

• 01:15 Micki: And I started as a children's librarian at the Hyattsville branch in 1971.

• 01:17: Hannah Oh really?

• 01:18 Micki: I got married in 1974, so I moved to Baltimore, and thus I moved to the Bowie Branch as a children's librarian. That was probably my least favorite experience of my entire career for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the library, I had to pass the Bowie race track to get to and from work*. And if I worked the night shift, I got everybody going to the race track. And if I worked the evening* shift, I got everybody going home. So I had the worst commute ever.

• 01:52 Hannah: Oh no!

• 01:52 Micki: So when the Beltsville branch library was opening, and they were hiring a branch manager at a low level, not as a high level branch manager, but a Librarian II, because it was in a trailer, I applied for that job and got it. I spent nine years there and had an absolutely fabulous time, because even though I was a branch manager, I was the only librarian, so I still got to do all the children's services that I loved. It was a wonderful community that had only been served by a bookmobile. They were really eager to have library service. So, even though it was in a trailer, within six months, we over, we got more circulation than all of the other small branches in the library system. So, it's a true library community and was back then. I spent nine years in the trailer. They thought that they were going to build a new library imminently, but that's when the bottom fell out of the budget in Prince George's County because of a tax limitation referendum, and everything was put on hold, including construction. So in that period, four schools closed in Beltsville, and they decided to use one of those for the library, and that's the facility that's there now with the police department. So I was promoted to the branch manager when it opened in that bigger facility. I spent one year there, and then I got the position of area manager at the Hyattsville region, and that's what it was called, the area manager. I supervised Beltsville, Laurel, and Hyattsville and was the manager of the Hyattsville branch. I did that for several years and then was made associate director, and then we had an unsuccessful director for one year, and I was then made interim director when he was let go. So I became manager, I mean I became the branch, the director, that I did for about six years or so. I should have looked at my resume, but I think maybe even longer, from 1999 to 2008, almost nine years, and then I was eligible to retire because I had been here so long. So I retired and I went on to another job, which I'll talk about later.

• 04:25 Hannah: So you've seen quite a lot of different parts of the system and a lot of different positions, and I'm really interested to hear that, could we have area, we have the position of area managers now, but there was a position prior to that called area manager, but it sounds like it was more like a branch manager or? 

• 04:45 Micki: It was a regional manager, and so far as that every area manager supervised a region of the library and was also the day-to-day manager of the biggest branch. So there were four, New Carrollton, Oxon Hill, Hyattsville and Bowie, and then each of us had satellite libraries that we supervised. 

• 05:06 Hannah: Oh, interesting. Okay. 
• 05:07 Micki: They* had managers, but they reported to the area manager. 

• 05:13  Hannah: That's making you remember, I came into the library system about 15, 16 years ago, and I remember at that point there were still designation of, like, large branch, medium branch, small branch, and the branches that you just mentioned, I remember were thought of as the large branch, so perhaps that sort of a holdover from when they were thought of as the regional libraries. 

• 05:37 Micki: Right and people that go back even farther than I remember that originally the Hyattsville Branch was the main branch, and there were residents who would always say, oh, I'm going to the main branch, and they thought of Hyattsville as the main branch, but those four branches were considered the, well, they were the largest, had the biggest staffs, and there were different levels of managers. So if you were a manager of a biggest branch, you had a higher position, grade level, and then there was a type 3, that was a type 4, I think, a type 3, a type 2, a type 1, so they started at Librarian II and went up the scale based on the size of the library and the staff. 

• 06:20 Hannah: So a lot of different gradations depending on where you worked. 

• 06:23 Micki: Right. So you could be promoted. 
• So you had a ladder that, you know, I was a Librarian II at the trailer, promoted to a Librarian IV in the bigger branch, so it gave you a place to go. 

• 06:36  Hannah: More rungs on the ladder. 
• 06:38 Micki: Exactly, a career ladder. It's not a path that I would recommend to anyone who wants to be in library leadership, to stay in one library like that for that many years, you know, from 1971 to 2008. 

• 06:53  Hannah: The nine years you spent at that small, uh. 

• 06:55 Micki The whole time I spent in Prince George's, it would be better to move around and get different experience. I think staying in one place like that is kind of an unorthodox and not the best way for a promotional ladder. It's better to move around. 

• 07:11  Hannah: As in not more than one library system? 

• 07:14   Micki: Yeah, more library system. I don't regret it at all, but it's a rare path for someone to go from children's librarian up to be the director eventually. 

• 07:24 Hannah: I do love that you got to advance to that nine year [intelligible]youth in the trailer, but also, you know, pursue what sounds like your first love of children's librarianship. 

• 07:37 Micki: Children's librarianship is still my greatest passion. And I think the most dedicated children's librarians are librarians to the core of their heart. And they will always really, really have the passion for children's services. And that was my, that was my belief. 

• 07:57 Hannah: So my next question, I think you've already mostly answered, which was tell us about your early experiences working in libraries. Tell us about your career path. If there's, is there anything else about it you wanted to highlight? Or, I feel like you went into that pretty thoroughly. 

• 08:17 Micki: I’ll probably have some other comments as we go on. 

• 08:19 Hannah: Okay. Can you tell us about a position you held during your career that was your favorite?
• 08:26 Micki: Well, children's librarian would be it. That's not true. I loved every position I ever had. I had a 30-some year, 38 year career*. And I never regretted going to work any day with two exceptions. There was a six month period that I was at the Bowie branch. Absolutely was miserable for a variety of reasons, including the commute. And then another time with, you know, some extreme challenges over a six month period when I was director. Otherwise, I never regretted going to work ever. So when I became director, well, I never thought I wanted to be a director. And my former director*, Bill Gordon once told me that if you don't get your kicks being in charge, you should not aspire to being a director. And I have never got my kicks being in charge. So it never occurred to me that I would want to be, even as a children's librarian, I never thought oh I never want to be a manager. But I got a little antsy and it was just, I needed more challenge. And that's the way I always needed more challenge, which is why I went for other promotions. But I never aspired to be a director. I thought the political part would be horrible. And I loved it. I thought, I didn’t having the buck stop there. But that's, that's what you take on. So children's librarian is still my passion, but I loved every job I ever had in the library. 

• 09:57 Hannah: You found something in it that was appealing. 

• 10:00 Micki: Right. 

• 10:01 Hannah: And interesting. That's interesting that you said former director Bill Gordon said that if you didn't have, you didn't enjoy being in charge, you shouldn't aspire to a position like director. Is that what? 

• 10:12 Micki: That's what he told me. And he believed that there were so many challenges in there. You'd be knocked down so many times, you can't ever make anybody, you can't make everyone happy. So you're always making somebody unhappy. And so, you know, really, you don't get a lot of day to day boost as a director. And so if you don't really just love being in charge, it's not a great place to be. But I found a lot of rewards in it. So I think he's wrong. But it did make me think I never wanted to be a director. 

• 10:46 Hannah: I feel like I've, I feel like I've heard many different philosophies about being in charge and…
• 10:51 Micki: And it's not a, I didn't even write this down as a thought, but I've always said that one of the worst things in the whole world about being a director is deciding when to close for weather. And in my case, the great Kirby Willis who, Kirby Willis was the head of maintenance for many, many years in this library. 

• 11:13 Hannah: I remember Kirby

• 11:14 Micki: And the associates, directors, and I always said, we were all replaceable and Kirby was not. He was the one person that, you know, we relied on for everything. And on a snow day, I would get up at five o'clock* and Kirby and I would talk on the phone immediately at five o'clock. I bought more junk stuff on whatever those TV shows are that you

• 11:41 Hannah: Oh, the QVC or whatever they're called. 

• 11:43  Micki: I bought a Scunci cleaner and some kind of cooker and I was like, because when you're up at five o'clock, there's nothing on, but those things. And I bought the most ridiculous things. Kathie Marathon, who I worked with, recently asked me if I still had my cooker. Never used it, but I bought that on a snow day. But Kirby would, Kirby would get in his car and drive around the county and then report to me what we should do. So even though I made the decision, it was always Kirby

• Hannah: Oh, Kirby was awesome.

• 12:14  Micki: Who made the decision. And I knew after I relied on him, if it were really bad or if he knew there were parts of the county that were worse, he knew and he told me. But it was just a horrible thing because you're never going to make anybody happy. You know, somebody's going to be mad, the public but…

• 12:32 Hannah: Oh, that's true.

• 12:35 Hannah:  Yeah, you have

• 12:37 Micki: I don't know how I got to that. But it was a thought about being a director. That's one of the worst things. 

• 12:41 Hannah: Yeah. And people are going to be upset that they can't go to the library. People are going to be upset they have to go to, they have to go to work. It's a big county, so different parts of it are going to be worse than others. People have different cars, different levels of comfort of driving in the snow. That's a tough decision.

• 12:57 Hannah: Could you tell us more about what it was like to be the director of a large library system?
• 13:02 Micki:  Part of what I love about  librarianship in general is that every day is different. There's always a new challenge. I did not expect to like the political part. And yet that's something that I really did enjoy. I guess we all have kind of preconceived notions of politicians. But when you're in the middle of it, there's some wonderful people, they have good intentions and things may go wrong. But I did enjoy that. It's challenging. But if you have a good team, it works. And you can work. 

• 13:45 Hannah: If you were surrounded by good people. Can you tell us what achievements you're most proud of during your administration?

• 13:56  Micki: Well, a couple things that come to mind. I do believe that throughout my leadership years, both as associate director and library director, we made a lot of strides in early literacy. Part of that is due to the state of Maryland, who made it a priority. But I even worked on the committees that helped to promote early literacy throughout the state of Maryland. And I worked in Prince George's County. I was, in my role as director, I was chair of the Committee for Children, Youth and Families for the whole county. And so that was very challenging and rewarding. 

• 14:36 Micki:  But I think that I did a lot to promote children's services. And I was nominated and got Woman of the Year* one year,  but based specifically on what I did for children's services. And I think I helped make that path for children's librarians to be considered management material. I think I was probably the first children's librarian ever to have a manager's job. And I think I was instrumental in making sure other children's librarians and teen librarians, for that matter, got opportunities and were not overlooked because they were in children's and teen services. That was one accomplishment. The other is the library had an unfortunate period where a library director ended up being let go. And the library's reputation in the county went way down the tubes during that period. And I believe I really helped to bring that back up to rebuild their confidence in the library because the library has always been known as one of the best managed departments of county government. And in that one year, it suffered tremendously. And I think I was instrumental in helping rebuild that because of my participation in children's stuff. And in cabinet meetings, I was a member of the cabinet. One year, the county executive actually distributed our budget, said it was one of the best budgets -  the fire department and the library, the only two that he copied and circulated to all the other departments. So we had a really good reputation, I think, within a couple years we were able to restore that. And with the team, I didn't do it alone, of course, but I do think that that was one of my best accomplishments. 

• 16:50 Hannah: A good reputation goes a long way when getting folks to work with you. With the library system. 

• 16:55 Micki: Right. And like I say, I certainly didn't do that alone. But I do believe we were on a real bad path for budgeting. When you have a bad reputation at the county you can suffer and we were able to restore that. So I was very proud of that.

• 17:04 Hannah: In your perspective, what makes the PGCMLS libraries different from other libraries, if anything?

• 17:27 Micki:  Obviously, the fact that we're in a predominantly minority community makes a big difference. I came to the library when the library was predominantly white. Court-enforced busing made a whole lot of white flight in the 70s. And the library went from predominantly white to predominantly African-American. And what was extraordinary is that the education level and the economic level went up. It's the only majority-minority jurisdiction I know in the country. There may be others now, but it was extraordinary. And the library took its role really seriously. We always had a more diverse collection before anybody else. We had specifically planned programs. Black Voices started way back in that period right after the change in demographics. So we've always taken very seriously the role in the community. So I think it was a challenge and one that the library met really well. It's another thing that makes Prince George’s, maybe it may not be the same today, but we're an agency of county government, not a department, like the community college and the school system. But within the library's budget, we had to do all of our own utilities. And if you looked at other library's budgets, it didn't look like Prince George's was that far off, but so much more of our budget went toward the kinds of things that other counties had paid for by their county. So budgetarily, it was, you know, we actually managed on a shoestring, but I think did really well. You know, it was because of a really good team. But budgetarily, we were below a lot of other library systems, but we still stacked up in terms of prestige and service. 

• 19:26 Hannah: So we're, if I'm understanding it right, we were operating on a bit more of a shoestring financially, but we had a bit more autonomy?

• 19:34 Micki: Yeah, most libraries are agencies rather than departments. But I think it was the fact that we had to make that budget stretch so much further than a lot of places who had those kinds of fees paid for by their county. At least that's my understanding. So we always had, and we did have that terrible tax limitation referendum* that, you know, everybody knew about Prop* whatever it was in California, but the one in Prince George's was even more stringent than the one in California. And we had to, you know, take draconian measures just to get through those periods. And we survived. And we learned to work on a shoestring budget. 

• 20:26 Hannah: Going back to the first, one of the first things you said to that question, you said that the library was predominantly white at the time. Do you mean the patrons or the customers coming in and the community coming in and itself was, 

• 20:35 Micki: Yeah the community itself was predominantly white. And because of court ordered bussing, there was a lot of white flight into the surrounding neighborhoods. But because of the huge employment by the federal government, the income level was pretty good. And as I said, Prince George's County is one of the few jurisdictions that switched from predominantly white to predominantly Black and the economic level went up. That's pretty extraordinary. 

• 21:08 Hannah: So the dramatic demographic change in maybe the 70s?

• 21:11 Micki: I believe it's the 70s. Yeah.

• 21:26 Hannah: If someone is interested in working in library management or becoming a director, what would you say to encourage them to start a career in public libraries?

• 21:33 Micki: Well, if you're worried about monetary rewards, the public library is not the place. Because rewards do not come through monetary rewards. Stability is pretty good within government. I don't ever regret having a government career as a retiree. You have fabulous benefits that a lot of people don't have in a bit of private industry. Job satisfaction is really high. Fabulous benefits, if I didn't just say that. And you get – every day is a new day. That's even in library leadership. So I think if that gives you satisfaction, job satisfaction, good benefits, fabulous colleagues who care about intellectual things and care about service. And if you really care about service, a library career is good. If you're looking for monetary rewards, look somewhere else.

• 22:37 Hannah: You're not going to get wealthy working for a public library. But there are a lot of wonderful people in it. What is the most challenging part of being a director specifically as opposed to working in library leadership, if anything? 

• 22:54 Micki: One of the things that I was thinking about is that a challenge is that the library is run so differently from other county agencies. And so they come up with a certain kind of budget. And then you have to fit yourself in it. And because libraries don't keep demographic statistics, it's very difficult to show a cause and effect. So the fire department can say, if we do this, we will save lives because of this. Social services can talk about it because they keep statistics on their clients. And that's true of almost every department at the library. So when you go to do a budget and try to show goals and then cause and effect, and then budget officials want to put you in those boxes and you don't fit because the library doesn't. We don't make people sign up for programming and then show that, well, I learned this at a program or my kid came to storytime every week and now he or she's ready for school. Well, we know it has a really good effect, but we can't prove it. It's just anecdotal. 

• 23:50 Hannah: Right. 

• 23:50 Micki: But other departments can prove it. They can show statistics and you just can't. And that makes it really difficult to make your case. 

• 24:15 Hannah: Our benefits are a little fuzzier, well, not fuzzier, but they're harder to pin down. And we're also, I think, very concerned about not violating people's privacy. 

• 24:28 Micki: Exactly, and also, and then this goes back to, I worked for a long time for Bill Gordon and he went on to be the president of ALA and he has a great reputation. He once told us that going to a budget hearing before the council and the county executive is like doing a peacock dance. Then you have to get their attention. And I remember during a very bad budget time, I went to, I was in a group of department heads that included Social Services, Family Services, child reimbursement*. You know, the ones that, I can't get the name, but health department. And it was a bad budget time. And the head of this group was asking us to explain why we needed money. And the health department said that, I forget which cancer was the worst in Prince George's, let's say it's, lung or breast. He said, well, we can't possibly have enough money to fight that. So we're going to go after the second most deadly cancer in Prince George's County. And then the person from either Family Services or Social Services said, in Langley Park, homeless people are sleeping on the roofs of the apartment buildings. So we really need help to help homeless population. And then someone, oh, child reimbursement. I can't remember what that's called, but you know, she said, you know, we have this huge caseload, but we can't go over parents who aren't paying their fair share because we don't have enough counselors. So children are going hungry and children, I mean, they're talking about death and destruction. Now it's my turn. Oh, we really need more computers to  - you know, it's like a peacock dance. We always did really well, but it was really hard to compete when other department heads are talking about life and death situations. 

• 26:28 Hannah: And yeah, it's, and of course, someone's use of a computer might be essential for them getting a job, which allows them to feed their family. But it's not as riveting as an image as, you know, a very dire situation of a child needing to eat or someone needing a place to sleep, or someone needing treatment for cancer.

• 26:49  Micki:  And we can't prove it. That's the problem. You know, we know it. We know that there are people who, you know, will never communicate with their family back home if they don't have access to a computer. That's not true so much today with phones, but it was back in the beginning of computers. 
• 27:04 Hannah: Sure. 

• 27:05 Micki: It's the lifeline for some people. And like you said, some people, you have to apply for a job online. And if you don't have a computer, how are you going to do that? So the library does play a really big role, but we can never prove it. And that's one of the problems. 

• 27:24 Hannah: You could be taking a class online, you could be applying for a job, you could be watching YouTube all day, you know.
•  
• 27:23 Micki: Exactly

• 27:24 Hannah: Have you worked for library systems other than PGCMLS? 

• 27:37 Micki: I actually started my career as a teenager at the Frederick County Public Library. I was a page every year all through high school. And then they hired me every summer vacation. And I worked in the Children's Department. But when I retired from Prince George's County, I went to work for the DC Public Library. And it was a dream job for me, because it was the Children's Coordinator. And I was there for about six years. But because of my background, they would always tack me to be head of public services for six months. And what I did was sit at a computer and listen to complaints all day long from the staff, the public, the city 

• 28:21 Hannah: Not related to children's services

• 28:23 Micki: But because I had so much experience with it. But being back in children's services was just wonderful. And I have a soft spot in my heart for the DC Public Library too. But Prince George's will always be my first love. 

• 28:39 Hannah: So I know that you had to deal with a lot of non-children's services things at DCPL. When you were dealing with children's services, what sort of work did you do there? What was it like?

• 28:49 Micki: I'm very proud of what happened in DC, because when I went there, they were in all of the District of Columbia, maybe two baby programs. 

• 28:59 Hannah: That's it?

• 29:00 Micki: Right. And so what I really concentrated on in DC was trying to beef up service for very young children, because older children in DC, they have universal pre-K3 and pre-K4. They are no three and four year olds coming to the library, like they used to. It's babies and toddlers. So really beefing up the children's services was, and I started in DC, I started a program called Sing, Talk, and Read. We called it the Star Program, Sing, Talk, and Read. And it was an educational program to teach people. And our program predated ALA’s including those other activities. They had already done every child ready to read. But I found in the District of Columbia, there were a lot of families who couldn't read. So to say, read to your child, read to your child, and I don't read is just a frustration. So we started emphasizing the singing and the talking, because everybody can sing and talk. 

• 29:59 Hannah: And that counts. That's great for your baby. 

• 30:01 Micki: And I think they're still doing Sing, Talk, and Read in the District. It was a very successful one. That's probably my proudest thing in the District, was doing the early childhood. By the time I left, everybody was doing baby programs. And storytimes there were sometimes 100 children. 

• 30:20 Hannah: Oh, wow. I hope they had big spaces for storytime. 

• 30:25 Micki: And many nannies bringing children to the library. 

• 30:32 Hannah: That's wonderful. Can you tell us about a special memory or anecdote from your work?

• 30:41 Micki: This was kind of funny. The year that I became, well, I'll start by saying the library always supported the Woman of the Year. And I don't know if it's still going on, but there would be their Women's History Month and they would have a luncheon. And we always would buy a table or two and try to diversify who went. So there would be some circulation people and make sure that lots of people got the opportunity to go. And one year, one of the Associate Directors, Kathie Marathon, ran into my office and said, Evelyn Tchiyuka is at the Maryland Women's History Luncheon. And she said, they have extra space. So we got to go. I said, you know, whatever. So she said, well, we have to start at Prince George's Plaza first. I don't know. We went to Prince George's Plaza and did something. And then she said, oh, we're too early. Let's go to Dress Barn. So we went to Dress Barn. I thought we were going to this luncheon. So we did have a luncheon and there's a table filled with my dancing teacher, my friends from outside of the library. And I said, oh my God, they think I'm going to get Woman of the Year. It's going to be so embarrassing. I'm sure they must have nominated me, but it's going to be so embarrassing for me when all these people here are thinking I'm going to get a Woman of the Year. And of course, I got it. But the whole time I was just, I was in such pain because I was sure there was no way they were going to give me Woman of the Year. And my friends and family

• 32:21 Hannah: It was like a surprise birthday party, but at a huge professional level.

• 32:25 Micki: Another funny thing that happened is that I was the manager at Hyattsville, so when this happened. There was a man who kept writing to the library Board of Trustees, insisting that I worked for the FBI and that I had given all of his information to the FBI. And he indicted me and Karl McFarland, who was the head of technology, eventually, but at that time he worked at the Hyattsville library. And they kept writing and saying, the Board was really worried because he sounded threatening. Karl and I were not that afraid, but one time Karl told me he was at the 7-Eleven and he saw the guy. He said, so I ran around the corner. I said, Karl, that's going to make him think even more than you work for the FBI. I went to hide from him. I don't know even what happened. I know the Board was really upset about it, and I don't know if they wanted to give us extra security or something. I don't remember, but he did finally go. He said we made him lose his job and his house, and we hardly know who he was. We certainly weren't informing the FBI, but he was convinced we were. 

• 33:34 Hannah: I mean, it certainly must have been -this poor guy, probably was having delusions and must have been terrifying for him, but this doesn't sound like a too uncommon thing that happens in public services. As unpleasant as it is. 

• 35:48 Micki: And actually, Bill Gordon was there at the time, and he said the man came to see him, and he said, I started to believe you might work for the FBI. He was so convincing. What? 

• 35:58 Hannah: I spoke to a lady at the Hyattsville branch many years later who - we had these small bins where we would put the discarded reservation slips for the PCs, and she told me- she had an FBI hat, speaking of the FBI, and she told me that she knew we were filing those and sending them to the FBI, and I said, actually, we just recycle them, and she got very angry at me and told me that, she said, do you see what my hat says?

• 34:31 Micki: Maybe not the same woman, and you just reminded me. The library used to have typewriters

• 34:34 Hannah: Oh yeah

• 34:35  Micki: So they would come and use a typewriter, and we had one woman who, every time she used it, would take the ribbon because she was sure we were turning it over to the FBI or something.

• 34:44 Hannah: Oh, interesting. 
• 34:47 Micki: It was like who's taking the ribbons off?
• 34:49 Hannah: That must have been very messy for her to carry home. Must have gotten ink all over her purse or her pocket. 

• 34:58 Micki: Yeah, I think she thought we were in cahoots with the FBI.

• 35:02 Hannah: Ah, the FBI and the CIA. 

• 35:06 Micki: So it's not that unusual. You're right. It's not uncommon. The library attracts all kinds. 

• 35:17 Hannah: We collect all sorts of information statistics. Can you speak about your philosophy of children's services?

• 35:20 Micki: Oh, that would take a day. Early literacy is where it's at now in terms of, because it's the one place the library can make the biggest impact, because if children are not exposed to words and songs and talking in their earliest years, they're not going to be ready for school, no matter what else the school system does. So getting people to come to the library, which is the best source for books and music. I think it, not that the library doesn't have a role all through, but children go to school, have school library early in those early years. Library is one of the few sources of information. So early literacy is really important. And then open access, let parents decide what children can read and not read, a variety of programming. This was kind of in my craw. Some children's librarians like not to let latecomers come into their programs. I had two over my dead body issues when I was library director. One of them was, you cannot disallow latecomers from entering a library. Where can you not go late? The opera, church, synagogue, you can't go anywhere late. You might want to wait five minutes till there's a break or whatever, but you cannot not let a child in. One time I took my own children to the Hyattsville branch for storytime, and a mother had dropped the child off at the door because they were late, and then they wouldn't let the child into the story time. It's like, this can't be. It just can't be. I also, as a library director, once got a call from a parent from one of our branches who said that her child was not allowed into the story time, her child was Black, and the white child last week was let in. And I do believe this. I don't think it was a matter of racism. I think the librarian the week before was a stickler on that kind of thing, and the other one was not. I don't think they really were making a racist decision, but what would she believe? It's clear that one child was let in and the other wasn't. So I was like, no, you can't ever not allow a child into a program because they're late. So that kind of openness to people. And if you've never tried to get a child ready in the middle of winter

• 37:58 Hannah: I was about to say, I'm not a parent, but I had a baby brother and getting a toddler dressed when they don't want to get ready is nearly impossible. 

• 38:07 Micki: They have to go to the bathroom after the snowsuit is on or, you know, so. But I think in children's services, it has to be an open heart to, and different behaviors. You know, there are still children that, you know, have behavioral problems, not problems, but differences. And we just have to be open to all of those.

• 38:27 Hannah: Yeah, if they need to come in and out, they might need a break in the middle of the storytime.

• 38:33 Micki: Yeah, they want to get up and babies get up and walk around. And when I was in DC, I had a librarian who didn't want the children to walk around. They were two year olds. They're going to walk around, you know, that's just what you have to expect. 

• 38:47 Hannah: You can't get a two year old to stay still. That's not going to happen. They're going to wiggle. So on the, on the storytime, you know, theme, do you have a favorite storytime read or reads? 

• 39:03 Micki: I have so many. You know, it's a cliche, but Pete the Cat, you just can't. You can't lose with Pete the Cat. And I thought, you know, Pete the Cat in his white shoes was like the ultimate. But a couple of weeks ago, I do a story time at a volunteer place every week. And I did Pete the Cat and Five Groovy Buttons. And they clapped at the end. Everybody loved that one. One that's an older book that people may not even know anymore is a book called Whose Mouse Are You? 

• 39:33 Hannah: Oh, I read that book. 

• 39:35 Micki: It's one of the most delightful books in the whole world. And it's really old, but it's really great. And I like anything you can sing. So I sing, I Went Walking, I sing Brown Bear Brown Bear, I like song books, Hush Little Baby, there's an old version by Aliki, that's the best. But I like, especially for babies and toddlers, singing a book. And I don't know why I wrote this one down, but Grumpy Pants is always good.

• 40:00 Hannah: Oh, is that the one with the penguin? 

• 40:02 Micki: Yes. And he goes

• 40:03 Hannah: and he has to take a nice, cold bath to calm down. I love that one. 

• 40:07 Micki: I could go on and on. But those, those are the ones I wrote down. 

• 40:11 Hannah: Those are all classics. And your opinion, what makes public libraries important in our communities? 

• 40:18 Micki: Well, the fact that libraries are open to everyone, it's, it's one of the few places that there's no admission, you know, there's no admission qualifications. I mentioned that I had two over my dead body. And I know one of them went the way of the dinosaur after I left. And that is having to have a library card to use computers. Because I believed, and I still believe that there are people who can't get library cards, especially from Langley Park. As I mentioned, there are people sleeping on the roofs. They can't get driver's licenses, they can't get IDs. Even those that live in apartments, sometimes live six, seven in the apartment, they can't put their name on the mailbox, because they're not legal. And consequently, they have no ID to get themselves a library card. So I think it's just cruel not to let people who can't get IDs, and there are people in this county who can't get IDs. Maybe don't let them take out books or limit how many they take or whatever. But that was one of my philosophies that I'm sorry it had to go the way of the dinosaur. The other thing, of course, and this is a cliche, the library is the people's university. It's, you know, it's where you can learn anything. And I think this library still does a fabulous job with programming. It always has. And it's without a fee, you know, it's one of the few places people can go and get information and entertainment. And where people care about they're getting good service, and I hope it's still the same. I mean, I remember the head of HR back long, long time ago when I was a young librarian, would tell people, you don't have to be a nice person, but we're paying you for your behavior. And your behavior is you're going to be nice to everybody. And if you don't want to do that, then go get another job. Because we used to laugh that we thought it would be a really good idea to have some kind of trick thing to see how people treat the people at the front desk or, you know, see how people act outside of an interview to see if they're really kind and gentle and nice. 

• 42:42 Hannah: See if they're kind to the folks who they don't perceive as important when they're showing up for an interview, like if they treat the receptionist.

• 42:47 Micki: Exactly. The receptionist in the front, you know, maybe do something extraordinary to make them to show that they're really nice people. Because customer service without good customer service, tis not very effective because people don't want to come back. So.

• 43:04 Hannah: Yeah, no, it matters how you treat people.

• 43:09 Micki: Oh, and I think the other thing is that I think collection is still really important.  I think a physical collection is still really, really important. There's still lots of people who want books. And not everybody believes that, but I believe firmly that people still want books. 

• 43:26 Hannah: I absolutely agree. 

• 45:36 Micki: They should have access to it at the public library. Interlibrary loan is fantastic. And that's one thing about, you know, working in the state of Maryland, I don't know if people who work here now know that that that's been in place for well over 50 years. Maryland has had fantastic interlibrary loan going back to the 60s. And that's extraordinary. And Maryland is an extraordinary place to work because of the collaboration. And back when internet was just coming into being, the library directors of the state of Maryland pulled all of their grant money together to make sure that internet access would be universal in the state of Maryland. So it had been a competitive process. And every library would, you know, try to get their little piece of the pie. But in order to make it so that the whole state had access, the library directors pulled all of their money into one big pot to make internet access universal. So that was an extraordinary piece of collaboration. But then like interlibrary loan too. And then of course, it's so easy now and it's fast. So I do acknowledge that you can rely on interlibrary loan for a lot, but not everything. 

• 44:51 Hannah: Sure. No
•  
• 44:52 Micki  The collection is still really, really important. 

• 44:54 Hannah: It's great to be able to have things come to you, but sometimes you need it there.

• 45:00 Micki: Right, right. And sometimes you don't know exactly what you want. I tried to gather books for a ballet workshop. And I had to go to six different libraries because I don't know exactly what I want. I still didn't get as many books as I got at the DC Public Library in two visits. So, you know, I think a little more attention to physical books in Prince George’s would be good.

• 45:29 Hannah: Is there anything we didn't ask you about today that you wanted to share some relevant experience we didn't get to? 

• 45:36 Micki: Well, there are two things I wanted to mention. On the side, I was on the adjunct faculty at University of Maryland for about 20 years, over 20 years. And that was really, really fun. You don't do adjunct teaching to make any money, because it's like you make next to nothing. But it's very rewarding to see young people coming into the field. And I started teaching children's literature. I did that until the regular professor came back from sabbatical. And then I started my own class on children's services and programming. I taught public library service for a couple years while the professor was off being the president of ALA. And I think that's all I taught.  Then I taught a research class right after I retired, which was interesting. And then I also taught at Catholic University for probably about four or five years. 

• 46:31 Hannah: Oh, I knew you taught at University of Maryland. I didn't know you taught at Catholic.
• 46:35 Micki: The other thing I just wanted to mention, I don't know why I wrote this down, but a lot of people think that the library staff has a lot to do with locating libraries.

• 46:48 Hannah: Yes

• 46:49 Micki: Langley Park needs a library, always has. 
• 46.50: Hannah: Yes. 
• 46:51 Micki: It has no political will. I mean, it doesn't have political clout. When the South Bowie Library, before it was built, the people of South Bowie used the most effective political tactic I've ever seen. They went to every single budget meeting year after year. And they never ever attacked the County Executive. They said, you're a wonderful County Executive. We know you understand we need a library in South Bowie. And they went faithfully to every budget hearing. And they went from not on the CIP, the capital improvement programs to the top of it. I think that's all I have.

• 47:35 Hannah: Thank you so much for talking with us today. 
•  
• 47:37  Micki: Thank you, Hannah.

*the Bowie Race Track had live horse racing from 1914 to 1985; Bowie Race Track – Its History and Its Future - The Equiery

*it was actually the day shift where Micki Freeny encountered everyone going home

*the satellite branches

*Proposition 13