By Erick Johnson
Dr. Carla Hayden made history nearly a decade ago when she became the first Black person to head the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Photo: Photo courtesy of Chicago Crusader
With ties to Chicago, she was appointed in 2015 to the position by President Barack Obama, another Chicagoan who himself made history as the nation’s first Black Commander-In-Chief.
However, next year, Hayden’s tenure as head of the world’s largest library may end when her term as Librarian of Congress expires. To renew her term, she must go through President Donald Trump and a Republican Senate, and the chances of that happening may not be great.
Hayden’s predecessors did not have to go through this process because the Librarian of Congress position was a once-in-a-lifetime job with no term limits.
Five months after she was appointed, the Republican majority passed a law that made the Librarian of Congress term 10 years. To keep the job after that, every 10 years, Librarians of Congress must renew their term with the approval of the sitting president and the U.S. Senate.
That means Hayden must face Trump and the MAGA Senate in September 2026, which is currently his rubber stamp.
As promised in the Project 2025 agenda, Trump is firing tens of thousands of federal employees as he seeks to transform the U.S. government to align with his vision and values. He recently fired the president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and appointed himself chairman of the board. What he does with the Librarian of Congress position when Hayden’s term expires next year is yet to be seen, but the writing may be on the wall.
What began as a long, promising career looks uncertain for a Black woman who spent many years in Chicago. There, she rose to become the chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library, one of the largest public libraries in the country.
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson laid the foundation for a vast national library by selling Congress his personal collection of books, which he had acquired after the War of 1812.
About 214 years later, in February 2016, Dr. Hayden made history when President Obama nominated her as the 14th Librarian of Congress. On July 12, 2016, the Republican Senate confirmed Hayden by a vote of 74 to 18. She was sworn in on September 14, 2016, by U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.
She became the first woman and the first African American to serve as the Library of Congress’ chief executive officer.
For 213 years, the Librarians of Congress had been well-educated White men appointed to the position by mostly Republican presidents. Hayden was the first Librarian appointed by a Democratic president since 1945. That year, President Harry Truman appointed Luther Evans to the top post.
The Library of Congress occupies three buildings on Capitol Hill. The Thomas Jefferson Building (1897) is the original separate Library of Congress building. (The Library began in 1800 inside the U.S. Capitol.) The John Adams Building was built in 1938, and the James Madison Memorial Building was completed in 1981.
Located in the Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison buildings on Capitol Hill, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, with 173 million items in its collections.
The institution also oversees the U.S. Copyright Office and the Congressional Research Service. It serves members, committees and staff of the U.S. Congress, other government agencies, libraries worldwide and the scholars, researchers, artists and scientists who use its resources.
Dr. Hayden’s predecessor, the late James H. Billington, the 13th Librarian of Congress who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, spent 28 years in office. He was heavily criticized for his unwillingness to hire a permanent Chief Information Officer to effectively manage and update the library’s information technology system.
The library’s inspector general, in a 2013 audit, warned that millions of items, some from as far back as the 1980s, were piled in overflowing buildings and warehouses. In addition, only a small fraction of the library’s 24 million books were available to read online.
That led Congress to pass the Librarian of Congress Succession Modernization Act of 2015, which required future Librarians of Congress to renew their terms every 10 years with the approval of the president and the U.S. Senate.
During her 10 years as the Librarian of Congress, Hayden, through her social media presence, events and activities, has introduced new audiences to many of the Library’s treasures—from Frederick Douglass’ papers to the contents of President Abraham Lincoln’s pockets on the night of his assassination to James Madison’s crystal flute, made famous to new generations by Lizzo.
By investing in information technology infrastructure and digitization efforts, Hayden has enabled the American people to explore, discover and engage more with the treasure trove of America’s stories maintained by the Library of Congress, even if they never visit the Library’s buildings in Washington, D.C.
With the support of a $15 million grant from the Mellon Foundation in 2021, Hayden launched the “Of the People” initiative, creating new opportunities for more Americans. Black, Indigenous, Hispanic or Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and other communities of color underrepresented in the Library’s collections can now engage with the Library and add their perspectives to the Library’s collections.
The initiative has three programs that invest in community-based documentarians, fund paid internships and offer fellowships to engage the next generation of diverse librarians, archivists, and knowledge workers and invite underserved communities and institutions to create digital engagements with Library collections.
But with the Trump administration attacking Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, questions remain as to whether Hayden’s work to reach groups that have not been exposed to the Library of Congress will jeopardize her chances of her term being renewed in 2026.
She came to the Library of Congress after overseeing the $112 million renovation of Baltimore’s central branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. She led $40 million in renovations to other units within the 22-branch Pratt system, named for the businessman and philanthropist who financed its founding in 1886.
Hayden has strong ties to Chicago. She received a B.A. from Roosevelt University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago.
She began her career in 1973 as a library associate and children’s librarian with the Chicago Public Library. From 1979 to 1982, she served as the young adult services coordinator. She served as library services coordinator for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago from 1982 to 1987. Dr. Hayden served as deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library from 1991 to 1993.
This article was originally published by the Chicago Crusader.
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