Erica Freudenberger, a Hudson Valley resident since 2001 and the director of the Red Hook Public Library since 2010, was recently named a Library Journal “Mover and Shaker." She was selected because of her commitment to the profession, her excellent leadership, and her ability to build community through collaboration and partnerships. The library, for its part, was named one of the Best Small Libraries in America by Library Journal, was awarded the Joseph F. Shubert Library Excellence Award, was recognized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and was invited to be part of a pilot project by the Aspen Institute — all in 2015 alone. I was born in New York City, but grew up mainly in Baltimore, Maryland. I was living back in NYC when I started coming up here on weekends, loved it, and, one weekend, I just never went back. There’s no place I’d rather be; I’m lucky to live where other people want to vacation. I was a journalist for Ulster Publishing before I began doing PR and programming for the library in 2009, and I became its director in August of 2010.
My focus has been on collaboration and partnerships; we have really good relationships with local organizations, including the mayor’s office, the school district, the chamber of commerce, Bard College, Historic Red Hook, Red Hook Community Arts Network and others, so we can create the kind of community people want to live in. The library can only be as successful as the community it’s in. We spend a lot of time talking to people about what they want to see here. One of the things we heard a lot was that teens and 20-somethings needed to have more volunteer leadership opportunities, so we hired them as interns, and invited them to lead programs. It’s a win-win — it gives them experience and it’s a huge boon for us. Public transportation is limited in our area, and the library only has so much space, so we hold programming at the high school, outdoors, and at local businesses. We’re an economic engine for our community, so the events are also a great way to stimulate business.
It’s not my library, it’s the community’s library, and all its success is due to this community. People love Red Hook’s small town feel: they know their neighbors, they’re deeply involved, they volunteer, and they’re generous with their time and talents. We’re a really busy place; we host about 360 programs for around 11, 000 people each year. The vast majority of them are led by our friends and neighbors. They include foreign language classes, beekeeping, winemaking and beer-brewing workshops, and many more. A lot of libraries bring in experts, but we do programming for the people, by the people. It’s more democratic that way — people can show what they know.
