Interview: “6 Questions With 14th Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden: ‘I Really Want to Connect With as Many People as Possible.'”

Q [Rockett]: You’ve done so many firsts: The first woman and the first African American to lead the national library. What does that kind of responsibility feel and look like?

A [Hayden]: My colleagues in the library world have been so supportive. They’re the ones that supported my nomination and recommended it because we are a community that believes in empowering people with what we do in libraries. Being the first woman since 1802 was very significant for the profession because we’re one of the four feminized professions — where about 85% to 90% of the workforce is female — and quite a few times the top management of those institutions doesn’t reflect that. So professionally, that was significant and then personally, being the first person of color was especially significant for me because people like me were denied the right to learn to read. That meant quite a bit to me personally.

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Q [Rockett]: Is the Ark of the Covenant in the Library of Congress in any shape, form or fashion?

A [Hayden]: Well, see … we’re building, for the first time, a Treasures Gallery at the Jefferson Building so we can bring out some of these things so people could see and rotate. We’re going to have an orientation center and a welcome area to have fun with all things that have been in those movies like “National Treasure.”