As a librarian in the congress, Hayden was responsible for digitizing the massive collection of the library.
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Thursday evening, in the running the librarian of the Congress Carla Hayden, President Trump continued his overhaul of American cultural institutions.
Hayden was the first woman and the first African-American to hold the post. She was also the first person of work to be limited to terms. His time was to expire next year.
“There were quite worrying things that she had done at the Congress Library in the pursuit of Dei and by putting inappropriate books in the library for children,” the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday.
NPR contacted Hayden to comment.
The Congress Library does a lot. It is the main research branch of the US Congress. It houses the American copyright office. Each year he organizes the National Book Festival (which, a complete disclosure, welcomed NPR journalists). But it also houses a giant mine of books, films, recordings, manuscripts, newspapers, etc., which makes it one of the largest libraries in the world.
When Hayden obtained the position for the first time in 2016, his main task was to bring the Congress Library to the 21st century and to digitize the collection. It was a fairly important work, given that the Government Accountability Office had just published a report in 2015 with the title: “A highly necessary leadership to treat the weaknesses of information technology management”.
According to most accounts, Hayden’s work in strengthening the library’s digital infrastructure was a success. During a hearing of the House Administration Committee on Tuesday, the member of the Republican Congress Bryan Steil congratulated Hayden and his staff, saying that they “devote a lot of time and service to the country and the Congress Library, and their work should be congratulated”.
While the libraries in general fought in the wider wars of culture, the Library of Congress has mainly remained outside these controversies. In addition to verifying the digitization process, the other subject of discussion in this week’s hearing was the renovation of the main reading room of the library.
Democratic legislators, including Senator Chuck Schumer and representative Hakeem Jeffries, criticized the dismissal.
This week also, a number of senior executives in the National Endowment for the Arts have left their posts. In a letter published by Literary Magazine N + 1, four members of the NEA literary arts personnel announced their departures. “Although we do not know precisely how the agency’s work will change, we know that the remaining staff will do their best to support you,” said the letter.
President Trump had already proposed to eliminate the NEA. During the weekend, artistic groups across the country received an email saying that their subsidies from the national endowment for the arts had been canceled. He said: “The NEA updates its grant policy priorities to concentrate funding on projects that reflect the rich artistic heritage and the creativity of the country as the priority by the president.”
Since then, this has left artistic groups – across the country to rush for funding.
And Wednesday, CNN reported that a certain number of artists in the coming production of The miserable At Kennedy Center plans to boycott when President Trump sees the show on June 11.
Kennedy Center’s takeover by Trump was a first show of force. He dismissed Deborah Rutter, who was president of the Performing Arts Center for a decade, and installed Richard Grenell as interim president. Trump also presented himself as Chairman of the Board of Directors. A number of artists who were to play have canceled their appearances in response.
This is only part of Trump’s changes to artistic institutions since he took office in January. He also tried to cut the staff of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Meghan Sullivan published this story.
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