Librarian of Congress was from Florida, and she was fired by Trump. Here's why
Hayden, both the first Black American and the first woman to head the library, holds a PhD in library sciences and was nominated to the post in 2016 by then-President Barack Obama. She was questioned by Congress earlier in the week over a library modernization project that was running late and over budget. Trump had her fired via email late in the day.
The day before, the nonprofit American Accountability Foundation, a conservative group dedicated to protecting Trump's "America First" initiatives, posted on X, "The current #LibrarianOfCongress Carla Hayden is woke, anti-Trump, and promotes trans-ing kids. It's time to get her OUT and hire a new guy for the job!" with a clip of Secretary of State Marco Rubio joking that it would be a good job.
Hayden was serving a 10-year term as the Librarian of Congress and would have been up for reappointment next year.
The library's collection is intended to include the "world's most comprehensive record of human creativity and knowledge" and preserves millions of books, films, photos and manuscripts.
Since his inauguration day, Trump has repeatedly targeted programs and people he considers improperly advancing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
"We felt she did not fit the needs of the American people," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. "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."
The Library of Congress is a research library and does not operate as a lending library, although members of the public who are 16 years of age and older may use books while on the premises. It is also the home to the U.S. Copyright Office.
Some possible reasons for Hayden's dismissal:
Hayden appeared before a Congressional committee earlier in the week, facing questions from a library modernization project whose cost has ballooned while completion deadlines have been repeatedly delayed.
Hayden had been leading the "Of the People" initiative to bring more works from Black, indigenous, Hispanic or Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander and other communities of color into the library's collections.
On May 8, the American Accountability Foundation pushed for Hayden's firing and posted later, thanking Trump for removing a "woke and radical Librarian of Congress."
In March, the Library released a study examining the copyright law and policy issues raised by artificial intelligence (AI) programs using copyrighted materials in their training. The study advised against compulsory usage in publishing contracts in favor of voluntary contracts and opt-out mechanisms to protect copyright. Several of Trump's big donors, including megabillionaire Elon Musk, operate AI programs that have been accused of scanning copyrighted works without permission.
Several Democratic members of Congress criticized her firing.
"While President Trump wants to ban books and tell Americans what to read – or not to read at all, Dr. Hayden has devoted her career to making reading and the pursuit of knowledge available to everyone," New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich said in a statement.
"President Trump's ignorant decision will impact America's libraries, our copyrighted economic interests, and service to the American people by threatening support for Congress," Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, posted to social media May 8.
Hayden was raised in New York, but she was born at Florida A&M University Hospital to Bruce Kennard Hayden Jr., a FAMU music professor and Colleen Hayden, a Tallahassee elementary school teacher and social worker. She gave the commencement address for FAMU's fall graduation in 2019.
She once told the Tallahassee Democrat she had a personal connection to the university and that it was a thrill to stand on the stage at Lee Hall where both her parents had once performed.
Hayen graduated from Roosevelt University with a degree in political science and African history and earned a Ph.D. in library science from the University of Chicago. She got her start telling stories to children with autism at the Chicago Public Library, working her way up until she became library services coordinator at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
After five years, she moved to Pittsburgh to teach information sciences for four years before moving back to Chicago, where she was deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library from 1991 to 1993.
She was the CEO of Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland, from 1993 to 2016, and president of the American Library Association from 2003 to 2004.
In 2003. Ms. Magazine named her Woman of the Year for her public opposition to the parts of the Patriot Act that allowed the Department of Justice and the FBI to access library user records.
In 2016, former President Barack Obama, who had met Hayden in Chicago, nominated her to serve as the next Librarian of Congress. She was confirmed with a 74-18 vote and sworn in by Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts.
She has also written two books, "Venture into Cultures: A Resource Book of Multicultural Materials and Programs" and "A Frontier of Librarianship: Services for Children in Museums."
Contributing: James Call, USA TODAY NETWORK
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Here's why
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