On the evening of May 8, Dr. Carla Hayden, our 14th Librarian of Congress, was fired, without any stated cause, via email by the Trump administration. Before her appointment as the first woman and African-American to lead the Library of Congress, Dr. Hayden had a long and distinguished career as a transformative leader of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland. The Rhode Island Library Association stands with the broader library community in condemning the dismissal of Dr. Hayden without cause.
RILA President Beatrice Pulliam on the dismissal of the Librarian of Congress: “During her tenure as the 14th Librarian of Congress, Dr. Hayden made the institution of the Library of Congress and its treasured collections accessible and approachable to everyone. Dr. Hayden is a visionary. Her leadership and commitment to modernizing the nation’s library serves as a model of excellence for the library profession and others serving the public. This is a serious blow to our profession and the country’s democratic ideals.”