Watch: The Modernization of the Library of Congress is Focus of U.S. Senate Hearing

Earlier today the U.S. Senate Rules & Administration Committee held an oversight hearing on the modernization of the Library Of Congress.

Testifying before the committee were:

Dr. Carla Hayden
Librarian Of Congress

Karyn A. Temple
Register Of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office

Mr. Bernard A. Barton, Jr.
Chief Information Officer, Library of Congress

From Dr. Hayden’s Prepared Testimony:

Three years ago, during my confirmation hearing in this very room, we discussed the many challenges and opportunities presented by technology at the Library of Congress. I am pleased today to tell you that we have significantly improved the Library’s IT.

The Library is a different organization than it was just a short time ago. Over the last few years, we have stabilized and optimized our core IT infrastructure. We have streamlined and strengthened our IT management and governance. And we have centralized and professionalized our IT workforce. Altogether, that hard work has allowed us to close as implemented nearly 95% of the IT recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2015, and we will keep working until we close 100%.

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We are moving forward in significant ways to increase user access to our materials. OCIO is working with Library Services to begin planning the next generation Integrated Library Services system. New collections management, inventory, and library service platforms will take an integrated approach to managing the full lifecycle of digital and physical collections, replacing a number of legacy home-grown and licensed stand-alone software applications in the first major overhaul in over a decade.

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More than 7 million new items were made available online in FY 2018, among them are the papers of Benjamin Franklin and Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and Library staff responded to more than 103,000 reference requests online, including queries handled through the “Ask a Librarian” web page.

Direct to Full Text of Dr. Hayden’s Prepared Testimony

Direct to Video of Senate Hearing (Keyword Searchable; via C-SPAN)

Media Report: Library of Congress Says it Has ‘Significantly Improved’ IT (via StateScoop)

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