Two months after Carla Hayden was fired as Librarian of Congress, she has a new job that will put her knowledge of libraries and archives to good use.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that Hayden, 72, will join the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as a senior fellow and her duties will include advising the organization on efforts to advance public knowledge through libraries and archives.
The private, non-profit Mellon foundation is one of the largest supporters of artistic and cultural initiatives in the country. Based in New York City, its source of funds is the wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh.
“The year-long post places Hayden back at the center of the very debates over American culture that surrounded her dismissal,” noted AP philanthropy reporter James Pollard.
On May 8, a Trump administration representative notified Hayden that she was being terminated effective immediately. She was in the ninth year of a 10-year term as the Librarian of Congress. Appointed in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama, she was the first woman and the first African American to hold the position, and the first professional librarian to hold the post since 1974.
From 1993 to 2016, Hayden was CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, where she lives. She served as president of the American Library Association from 2003 to 2004.
Todd Blanche, the Deputy Attorney General of the U. S. and one of President Donald Trump’s personal attorneys, was appointed the acting Librarian of Congress. The permanent post must be confirmed by the U. S. Senate.
At a briefing on May 9, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the reason for Hayden’s firing was that “we felt she did not fit the needs of the American people. There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the Library for children and we don’t believe that she was serving the interests of the American taxpayer well.”
Hayden has since been defended by a wide range of groups and individuals, including the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries; Publishers Weekly; Congressional representatives from Maryland and other states; three U. S. poet laureates; and Baltimore filmmaker John Waters, who has had two of his movies — “Pink Flamingos” and “Hairspray” — added to the National Film Registry, which is maintained by the Library of Congress.
In her new role, Hayden “will pursue scholarship, writing and research projects while also serving as a strategic planner and counsel, working in collaboration with Foundation leadership and staff, advising on opportunities to support and advance libraries, archives and other organizations,” the foundation said on social media.
“We celebrate Dr. Hayden’s career-long commitment to the profoundly American tradition of freedom to read, learn and explore the vast knowledge held within our country’s libraries and archives,” said Mellon President Elizabeth Alexander, in a statement. “We welcome her wisdom and counsel as a leader with an unshakable regard for the public good of the American people. We are thrilled that she is sharing her expertise with the Mellon Foundation during this crucial time.”
“For generations, libraries, archives and cultural institutions have been the guardians of knowledge and the catalysts for human progress,” Hayden said in a statement. “At a time when equitable access to information and the free exchange of ideas face significant challenges, I am honored to join the Mellon Foundation as a senior fellow. Together we will work to strengthen the public knowledge ecosystem and ensure that the transformative power of information remains accessible to all.”
