Melanie L. Freese Gets the Star Treatment!

    NORTH BALDWIN, NY, March 23, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Melanie L. Freese has participated in The Star Treatment, a prestigious video series hosted by renowned lawyer and television personality, Star Jones. This premier video series is extremely limited — Marquis Who's Who qualifies 500 listees on an annual basis for this elite service. Backed by a storied career in media that spans more than two decades, Star works closely with Marquis listees to assist with networking goals and commemorative efforts that can be shared with a worldwide audience.

Ms. Freese, an associate professor of library services, feels that she didn't choose to become a librarian. Rather, it chose her. "My first career was in elementary ed," she said. By the time she earned her master's degree, there was a glut of teachers flooding the market, and very few opportunities existed to find a tenured position. As luck would have it, she found a job working with Adelphi University, where she was sent to work in the library. The position turned out to be a godsend, as it showed Ms. Freese her passion for libraries. She promptly decided to earn a master's degree in library science and make that her career.

A behind the scenes worker, Ms. Freese is privy to a world that the public rarely gets to see. In the catalogs department, the heart of the collection, she purchases and logs new books to grow the library, cataloging them for easy access and describing the content bibliographically. In the old days of the card catalog, the space for information was limited to the physical size of the card. In the digital age, however, there is an unlimited space for providing as much information to the reader as possible. As Star pointed out, the practice of cataloging is similar to the marketing and social media practice of "tagging," assigning metadata to posts and webpages to make them accessible to search engines. "Googling is excellent, I find," said Ms. Freese, but most people, in her opinion, use too broad a search strategy to find the specific information they need. She advises that people start with a narrow search and broaden from there if the results list is too short.

Outside of the library, Ms. Freese has been very active in her church, teaching her first Sunday school class when she was 14 years old, and she has been the church's librarian for the past 35 years. This turned out to be quite a challenge, as she fulfills all roles, "soup to nuts," as opposed to working in a limited capacity as part of a team. She is a member of the Nassau County Library Association, and the former chair of institutional services. In this capacity, she worked to secure reading resources for juvenile detention centers. She was touched by the experience, seeing the heartwrenching scenes of very young children in what was effectively a prison. "I tried to make a difference so they would have something to read… something to do," she said.

Another highlight of Ms. Freese's career was helping to set up a library for the Wayside Home School for Girls. This was not a juvenile detention facility, though the girls had very few freedoms nonetheless. The girls loved the library that Ms. Freese created, and they found that they loved reading. Ms. Freese is thrilled and proud to say that many of those girls went on to college. Citing the former first lady, Laura Bush, Star pointed out a pertinent quote, "I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card." Ms. Freese encouraged patrons of the library to never be afraid to ask questions. After all, librarians are trained extensively to serve in their roles, and know research strategies and data location advice that the general public may not consider.

Ms. Freese has no plans to quit working in the library any time soon. As long as she will be able to carry out the functions of her position, she is happy to continue to serve her community. "One of the most important things is actually the friendships I have made with some of my students." With an people-focused attitude and a helpful nature, Ms. Freese is definitely worthy of the Star Treatment.

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