Carla Hayden: A Constellation

On May 20, SCBWI joined forty-seven organizations in a public statement condemning the firing of Dr. Carla Hayden, the fourteenth Librarian of Congress, and urging Congress to intervene. The first woman and first African American to hold the position, Hayden was nominated by President Barack Obama and sworn in on February 24, 2016, by Chief Justice John Roberts for what should have been a ten-year term. Colleagues have called her “a constellation of talent, determination, grace and experience” and “fearless and strategic.”

According to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the purported reason for Hayden’s firing was the Trump administration’s concerns about her “pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books for children in the library.” Leavitt seemed blissfully unaware that The Library of Congress (LOC), which is home to the U.S. Copyright Office, mandates that two copies of every copyrightable work published in the U.S. be deposited with the LOC. Their creators are of all colors, genders, religions, and identities. The LOC is not a lending library and does not check materials out to children. 

This astounding collection contains over 175 million items. Among them, 32 million books in 470 languages; 5.8 million maps; 8.2 million items of sheet music and 4.2 million audio materials; the world’s largest comics collection. The LOC houses one of the most sizeable rare book collections in North America, including a Guttenberg Bible and the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence. Its manuscript collections include papers by twenty-three presidents, thirty-six Supreme Court justices, Sigmund Freud, Rosa Parks, and Frederick Douglass. 

The last is one of Hayden’s favorites. Douglass, an escaped slave and abolitionist leader, became a great orator and writer who authored three autobiographies. Hayden often quotes him, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” The ability to hold papers written by his hand touches her deeply, not only as a five-decade librarian but, yes, as an African American. 

Her career began in 1973, as a library associate in a storefront branch of the Chicago Public Library. She’d just graduated from Roosevelt University with a BA in political science and was deciding whether to pursue law or social work. After some time on the job, she decided instead on a master’s degree in library science. Her PhD is also in library science, with a focus on children’s literature. 

In 1991, she was recruited to head the Chicago Public Library, and two years later moved to lead Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library. There, she was all about innovation. The Pratt was the first public library to offer free internet access. Hayden also focused on the library’s youth services. She says she’s seen libraries change children’s lives “more times than she can count,” and includes her own childhood among them.

At the Library of Congress, Hayden placed a strong emphasis on digitization, to “throw open the treasure chest” of the collections and share them as widely as possible. She prioritized unique items like Teddy Roosevelt’s diaries and Rosa Park’s papers. Once only available in physical form, they are now easily accessible online for anyone to read. Her By the People crowdsource transcription program invites volunteers to transcribe and review digital collections.

What seems to be the main point of contention re DEI initiatives is a Mellon Foundation supported program called Of the People: Widening the Path, which promotes outreach and archives development by and for Black, Indigenous, Hispanic or Latino, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and/or other communities of color historically underrepresented in the Library’s collections. That Hayden could be dismissed from a position she’s so uniquely qualified for because she opened the doors more extensively is a travesty.

Rep. Ayanna Presley said in a statement, “To be clear, this is about more than one distinguished public servant—it is part of [a] coordinated, anti-Black assault on truth, education, and the American story itself.”

It is also about the rise of anti-Intellectualism. The current book banning trend and push to dismantle public education and critical research also reflect this growing notion that information and knowledge are somehow dangerous. That teachers and librarians, writers and artists, scientists and historians are “the enemy.” 

This country is a vast, multi-hued tapestry, woven not only of blood and toil, but also of brilliant minds, shared ideals, and great vision. It is a work in progress, but the fabric is fraying. The choice is ours. Keep weaving. Or hasten the unraveling.