“I’m a little nervous, because I haven’t been out much,” declared former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, wryly referring to her abrupt dismissal earlier this year.
Hayden spoke in a conversation with Newbery Medal-winning author Kwame Alexander on the main stage at the American Library Association’s (ALA) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia on June 28.
She recounted the story of how she was in her mother’s home when she received a short email, addressed simply to “Carla.”
“So this person presumably knows you?” Alexander asked.
“It didn’t say, “Dear Carla,” she replied.
Despite the unceremonious firing (“Usually there’s a process,” she observed), Hayden has found things to be grateful for. She thanked supporters for cards and messages of support, and the “community of caring” that includes librarians, authors, and publishers, among others. She also considers herself fortunate that the email came on a Thursday night. “I was able to see staff [the next day] and say, ‘We’re trying to make sure that the library is protected,’” she said. “You have to separate this position, which is the only one that is executive-controlled, from the institution.”
Nevertheless, Hayden draws hope from her knowledge of history and the recognition that things have been worse. She recalled accompanying her parents years ago on a trip to Tallahassee, Florida, and seeing “White” and “Colored” signs. “You realize that there were other times with so many other challenges, and that they made it.”
Initially, Hayden said, she had not being particularly interested in the Librarian of Congress job. “I thought of it as this staid reference, research place,” she remembered. But during the “ultimate interview” with then-President Obama, he relayed, “I’ve seen the contents of Abraham Lincoln’s pockets on the night he was assassinated. But I think that has to do with who I am.” He asked how she could open the treasure box of American history to a wider audience, and Hayden realized what her skills could bring to the position.
Hayden highlighted the Library of Congress’s (LC) digitization projects as a proud achievement of her tenure. (A favorite item: Rosa Parks’s peanut butter pancake recipe, written in her own hand on the back of a bank envelope.) When Alexander asked if there was anything she had hoped to accomplish at LC but hadn’t had time to, Hayden discussed projects underway. They include a youth center and a first-ever orientation center in LC’s Jefferson Building. The youth center will issue special young readers’ cards that will allow children under 16, the current minimum age, to conduct some research at LC.
The discussion concluded with a series of rapid-fire questions, one of which inadvertently demonstrated the folly of opposing diversity. Alexander asked Hayden about what food she doesn’t like. She responded immediately, “Brussels sprouts.” Alexander—a fan of the sprouts—was surprised. Hayden declared, “Just because I don’t like them doesn’t mean that you can’t eat them. Diversity is just having choices.”
