Girl Power! Carla Hayden Appointed As The 1st Woman And African-American To Head US Library Of Congress

On Wednesday, 14th of September, history was made after Carla Hayden was sworn in as the first woman and African–American  appointed as the librarian of Congress.

According to reports from TheGuardian, the 64-year-old woman from Tallahassee, Florida, has served as CEO of Baltimore’s Pratt Library since 1993.

US President Barack Obama nominated her for the position in February to fill the vacancy left by James Billington, who resigned last September.

Just as Mr Obama said in a press release, the appointment of a black person and a woman was “long overdue” saying that since its inception in 1800, all 13 librarians of Congress have been white men. That all changed in July, after the Senate voted 72-14 to confirm Hayden in her new position.

“Dr Hayden has devoted her career to modernizing libraries so that everyone can participate in today’s digital culture,” Barack Obama said when he nominated her.

Hayden said in an official statement:

“I will be honored to build on the legacy and accomplishments of my predecessors in this position to be part of a continuing movement to open the the treasure chest that is the Library of Congress even further, and to make it a place that can be found and used by everyone.”

During an interview, she said:

”Even though librarianship is one of the four what they call feminized professions – social work, education nursing, and librarianship – where 85% of the workforce is female, there haven’t been an equal amount of women in the leadership positions.”

Hayden is also only the third Librarian of Congress to actually have training as a librarian.

According to Hayden, the profession was “feminized” when Melvil Dewey, who created the Dewey decimal system, said: ”it was time to let women in because there was a lot of monotonous work to do. And he also said women in public libraries could be hostesses because they were part of the home.”

“Oh he was quite the fellow,” Hayden said, laughing. “So for a woman to be actual manager, CEO, is poetic justice.”

The librarian of Congress oversees the world’s largest library system. As the name indicates, one of the main roles of the 216-year-old library is to assist Congress in the research it needs in order to pass bills. It also oversees the US copyright system, names the poet laureate, and preserves historical documents and books.

Carla Hayden will serve a 10-year term, a change from her predecessors, for whom the position was considered a lifetime appointment.

Photo credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP