Carla Hayden

Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress on September 14, 2016.  She is the first woman and first African American woman to lead the national library and was nominated for this position by President Barack Obama.  She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

In 1993 she served as CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland.  Hayden was then nominated to be a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board in January 2010 and confirmed by the Senate in June of that year. Prior to the Pratt Library she was deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library from 1991 to 1993.  Mrs. Hayden had been an assistant professor for Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh from 1987 to 1991.  Before that she had been library services coordinator for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago form 1982 to 1987.  Carla Hayden began her career with the Chicago Public Library as the young adult services coordinator from 1979 to 1982 and as library associate and children’s librarian form 1973 to 1979.

Source: Library of Congress – About the Librarian.    www.loc.gov

Carla Hayden was born in Tallahassee, Florida on August 10, 1952 and holds degrees from Roosevelt University and the University of Chicago. She has ties to Arkansas because her mother’s side of the family comes from Helena.

The Librarian of Congress is the head of the Library of Congress and appointed by the President of the United States with consent of the Senate for a term of ten years.

Carla Hayden and her staff visited Helena, Arkansas on June 30, 2018 and I was lucky enough to meet her.  Pictured above, I am giving her one of our books from the Delta Cultural Center Museum Store.