This makes her the fourteenth librarian to serve in the post, and the first woman and first African-American in the position.
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“There is no doubt that Dr. Hayden will have a positive impact by leading efforts to establish a more modern approach to serving members of Congress, researchers and the public at large”, ALA president Julie Todaro said in a statement.
By a vote of 74-18, the U.S. Senate confirmed Carla Hayden for the top post at the largest library in the world on Wednesday.
Hayden is now the chief executive of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, where she earned praise for keeping the library open during unrest in the city after the shooting death of Freddie Gray. President Barack Obama had nominated Hayden to be the 14th Librarian of Congress in the institution’s 214-year history. “Like she did with the Pratt Library, I am sure Dr. Hayden will uphold the rich traditions of the Library of Congress while bringing innovation and creating leadership to a national treasure”. The system is named for the businessman and philanthropist who financed its founding in 1886.
Hayden has her work cut out for her. The Library has been criticized for failing to keep up with technological changes and making its content accessible to people of all ages. She will be sworn in at a date to be determined and is expected to assume her duties soon. Before that, she was the head of the Chicago Public Library.
During the protests in Baltimore previous year, Hayden herself opened the doors of the library branch across the street from a CVS store that burned and was rebuilt, said Roswell Encina, Pratt director of communications.
Hayden replaces James Billington, who served in the position for 28 years. A program of outreach into neighborhoods served by the Pratt libraries included after-school centers for teens, offering homework assistance and college counseling; a program offering healthy-eating information for residents in areas with insufficient access to high-quality food; programming in Spanish; establishment of an electronic library, and digitization of the Library’s special collections. Previously, she worked as a library service coordinator for the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago and taught as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
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The Senate today confirmed Carla D. Hayden to be the librarian of Congress after a campaign of obstruction that’s unusual for such a nonpolitical post.
