Michelle Samuel, a familiar face at the Oceanside Library for the past seven years, stepped into the role of assistant director at the end of July, succeeding the retiring Tony Iovino, and has taken on responsibilities she previously shared with Director Chris Marra. Samuel — who came to the library in March 2018 as the head of children’s services — said the transition has been busy and full of face-to-face time with patrons, staff and neighbors.
Samuel, 43, who lives in Freeport with her 5-year-old daughter, is a career librarian who graduated from St. John’s University with a Master's in library science in 2007. Over the years she has gained operational know-how and leadership skills to draw on in her new role. She says she is dedicated to serving the Oceanside community.
“I’m here to help them,” Samuel said. “Freeport is my hometown, but I look at Oceanside as my second home. I really do love it here.”
Samuel’s path to librarianship began early. She started working at her hometown Freeport Memorial Library as a teen — shelving books and learning the operations that most patrons never see. After earning her master’s she spent 12 years at Freeport Memorial, moving up through roles before coming to Oceanside.
“I first met Michelle during the very challenging pandemic year of 2020, when she was Head of Youth Services in Oceanside Library’s and I was fortunate enough to be hired onto her staff as a Children’s Librarian,” said Adult Programming & Outreach coordinator, Sarah Campbell in an email. “Her unique blend of organizational skills mixed with care, thoughtfulness, sense of humor, and ability to “see the bigger picture” have always made her both approachable and a great leader. After five years and many changes for us both, I feel incredibly lucky to once again be on Michelle’s team.”
Here she helped run a rapidly expanding children’s program and built relationships across departments. That experience, she said, prepared her for the broader responsibilities of assistant director: supervising staff, helping patrons and collaborating with the director on strategic initiatives.
“Now I’m really getting to say hello to everybody, really getting to know everybody, and just learning how they are using the libraries,” Samuel said.
The promotion made her “nervous, but excited,” she added, crediting both Iovino and Marra for mentoring and preparing her.
“Tony took the time of a whole year to fully train me and prepare me for this step,” Samuel said. “Chris is the one that’s here day to day with me, still guiding us and helping out.”
Samuel has laid out an ambitious agenda, planning to grow programming by bringing back events that were paused during the library’s temporary relocation; pushing current offerings “to the next level”; improving operations so patrons wait no longer than a week or two for requested items; revamping the library’s website to make essential information easier to find; bringing in new services and technology by attending conferences and scouting innovations that enhance patrons’ experiences; and advocating for stronger funding by building relationships with local legislators and being more vocal about the library’s role beyond books.
Money, she said, remains its biggest challenge. State aid covers only a sliver of its operational needs, so staff members pursue grants and creative partnerships to get new projects off the ground.
“Funding is always going to be the first hurdle,” Samuel said. “We do research for grants … but money is definitely an obstacle.”
She is already active beyond Oceanside. She is vice president of the Nassau County Library Association and the organization’s president-elect, with a formal installation set for December. She will be presenting at the New York Library Association conference in Saratoga Springs next month, and she said she looks forward to both sharing Oceanside’s successes and bringing back new ideas.
“Michelle’s leadership and the passion she brings is incredible,” Marra said. “We’ve worked together a long time.”
Samuel described her leadership style as accessible and collaborative. She once handed patrons’ questions up the chain, but now has the authority to respond to them directly. She also stressed cross-department cooperation: helping staff get to “yes” when they conceive new programs, and making it easy for patrons to find what they need.
“Sometimes ideas start small and feel timid,” she said. “Tony taught me to think outside the box: How can we tailor an idea to our community and make it great? I want to keep building on that.” Samuel’s immediate focus is on returning seasonal offerings to full strength, with the highly anticipated eighth annual OceanCon, Oceanside’s spin on Comic Con, on Oct. 26, and other fall events on the calendar. Longer term, she’s scouting new services and digital tools that could expand the library’s reach and usefulness.
“I look forward to getting out to conferences, really seeing what new services and technology are available, and seeing how we can bring that back here to Oceanside,” she said.
Samuel’s promotion represents continuity and growth for a library that, under Marra’s direction and Iovino’s legacy work, has become a busy community hub.
With Samuel managing day-to-day staff operations and patron services, Marra said, the library will continue enhancing services and programming for the community.
For residents, that means a familiar face in a new role and a leader who has spent decades behind the scenes learning how a library really works — from shelving to public policy — and who now has the platform to expand Oceanside’s footprint.
“I want patrons to know I’m here to help them,” Samuel said. “When they walk in, I want them to feel like they walked into one of the best libraries around.”
