Latest news with #LibrarianOfCongress
CBS News
08-06-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden speaks out on her firing by Trump
Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden speaks out on her firing by Trump Last month, Carla Hayden was nearing the end of her ten-year term as Librarian of Congress. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Hayden was the 14th Librarian of Congress since 1802. She was a history-maker – the first woman and first Black person to hold the job. Then, on May 8, Hayden received an email, one she thought may have been fake. It began simply, "Carla," and stated: "On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately." CBS News "I was never notified beforehand and after," she said. "No one has talked to me directly at all from the White House." She said she has received no phone call, either – only that single email. Hayden said there had never been any issues between her and President Trump: "Oh, no, or any other administration." "So, this wasn't personal?" Dr. Carla Hayden, former Librarian of Congress. CBS News "No, no. I don't think it was personal," she replied. "Do you think it was about power?" "I don't know what it was about, frankly," Hayden said. Hayden's firing is seen by many as part of a broader story. President Trump has been pushing out leaders at cultural institutions, and is targeting public media and universities for spending cuts. Call to action Last weekend, at Washington, D.C.'s Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, Hayden's supporters gathered for a town hall meeting. One speaker, author Kwame Alexander, said, "The firing of our distinguished, esteemed Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, makes it clear to us that the freedom to read, the freedom to learn, the freedom to express ourselves is under attack. … We are simply going to be bold." On May 31, at Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Washington, D.C., a town hall meeting was held "to defend creative expression, access to all books, and the freedom to learn." CBS News I asked Hayden, "There are librarians, academics, activists, many people in America who are often seen as the 'quiet types,' they're being loud." "They're being loud, I think, and it's so humbling to have that outpouring of support," Hayden said. "But what is really, I think, part of this feeling is that it's part of a larger-seeming effort to diminish opportunities for the general public to have free access to information and inspiration. We like to say as librarians, 'Free people read freely.' And so, there's been an effort recently to quelch that." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has addressed Hayden's dismissal, stating on May 9, "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, uh, putting inappropriate books in the library for children." Hayden's response? "When I heard those comments, I was concerned that there might not have been as much of an awareness of what the Library of Congress does." The library's primary function is to fulfil research requests from members of Congress – it is not a lending library for the general public. The White House press secretary also used the term "DEI," referring to "diversity, equity and inclusion." I asked Hayden, "When you hear that, as one of the most prominent Black women in the United States, what do you hear?" "It's been puzzling in many ways, to think about being 'inclusive' as a negative," Hayden said. "What's that all about?" "I don't know, because when you think about diversity, you can put it to its lowest level. It's wonderful to have options," Hayden said. "When you go and get ice cream, you know, this one likes strawberry, this one likes pistachio – you know? I would stay with the chocolate, I must say." The book that sparked a lifetime of reading While Hayden, who's 72, is no longer at the Library of Congress, the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, which she led for over two decades, has the feel of home. Hayden's lifetime of reading was sparked by a library book – "Bright April" by Marguerite De Angeli, the story of a Black girl and her family. She said she saw herself in that book: "Yeah, it was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is me,'" she said. "You see yourself. And that's why it's so important for young people to see themselves, or to read about experiences that they're having. 'Cause it validates you, because you've seen it in a book. Somebody took the time, somebody cared enough. "That's what librarians are fighting for, that people will be able to say, 'Here's a book about our family. We have a family that other people might think is a little different.' Or, 'Here's a book that talks about someone that's just like you.' And because it's in a book, it's been published, it means that it's real and it's important." Carla Hayden shows correspondent Robert Costa a copy of "Bright April." CBS News For Hayden, libraries do more than convene people in buildings; they convene Americans around our founding values. And she points to "Freedom to Read" – the 1953 statement by the American Library Association – as a guiding light. "The freedom to read is essential to our democracy," it said. "It is continuously under attack." Is it under attack today? "Democracy is under attack," Hayden said. "Democracies are not to be taken for granted. And the institutions that support democracy should not be taken for granted. And so, that's what the concern is about libraries and museums. It's part of a fabric. Think of it as an infrastructure that holds up – the libraries have been called one of the pillars of democracy, that you have these institutions in every community that allow anyone to come in and access knowledge." For more info: Story produced by Ed Forgotson. Editor: Chad Cardin.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fired US librarian of Congress details callous dismissal in new interview
The first woman and African American to serve as the US librarian of Congress before Donald Trump fired her in May has not heard from the president's administration beyond the 31-word email it sent her with word of her dismissal, she has revealed in her first interview since her ouster. 'No one has talked to me directly at all from the White House,' Carla Hayden says in an interview airing on the upcoming CBS News Sunday Morning. 'I've received no communication directly, except for that one email. 'That's the only communication.' Hayden's comments to the CBS national correspondent Robert Costa provide a first-hand glimpse at the unceremonious way she was fired from a post to which the US Senate confirmed her in 2016. She had been thrust under political pressure by a conservative advocacy group that had pledged to drive out anyone deemed to be standing in the way of the Trump White House's rightwing agenda. That organization, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), leveled accusations against Hayden and other library leaders that they had promoted children's books with 'radical content' as well as literature by opponents of the president. Hayden then received an email on 8 May that read: 'Carla, on behalf of President Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.' Asked by Acosta whether her tenure really ended 'with one missive that's electronic', Hayden replied: 'That was it.' She also remarked: 'I was never notified beforehand and after.' Hayden is one of numerous federal government officials whom Trump has dismissed upon having been convinced that they were not aligned with his second presidency's plans. Just hours before her firing became public, the AAF used its X account to insult her as 'woke' and 'anti-Trump'. 'It's time to get her OUT,' the AAF also said on X, in part. Congressional Democrats reacted with fury to Hayden's termination. New York's Chuck Schumer, the top US Senate Democrat, said Hayden was a 'trailblazer, a scholar and a public servant of the highest order'. The New York representative Joseph Morelle, the highest-ranking Democrat on the US House's administration committee, called Hayden 'an American hero'. 'Hayden has spent her entire career serving people – from helping kids learn to read to protecting some of our nation's most precious treasures,' said Morelle, whose committee oversees the congressional library. The Library of Congress sits across from the US Capitol in Washington DC. It holds a vast collection of the US's books and history, making it available to federal lawmakers as well as the public. It archives the papers of presidents and supreme court justices and has collections of rare books, images, music and artifacts. In 2022, Hayden arranged for the singer Lizzo to play one of those artifacts: a flute owned by James Madison, who was US president from 1809 to 1817.
The Guardian
07-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Fired US librarian of Congress details callous dismissal in new interview
The first woman and African American to serve as the US librarian of Congress before Donald Trump fired her in May has not heard from the president's administration beyond the 31-word email it sent her with word of her dismissal, she has revealed in her first interview since her ouster. 'No one has talked to me directly at all from the White House,' Carla Hayden says in an interview airing on the upcoming CBS News Sunday Morning. 'I've received no communication directly, except for that one email. 'That's the only communication.' Hayden's comments to the CBS national correspondent Robert Costa provide a first-hand glimpse at the unceremonious way she was fired from a post to which the US Senate confirmed her in 2016. She had been thrust under political pressure by a conservative advocacy group that had pledged to drive out anyone deemed to be standing in the way of the Trump White House's rightwing agenda. That organization, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), leveled accusations against Hayden and other library leaders that they had promoted children's books with 'radical content' as well as literature by opponents of the president. Hayden then received an email on 8 May that read: 'Carla, on behalf of President Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.' Asked by Acosta whether her tenure really ended 'with one missive that's electronic', Hayden replied: 'That was it.' She also remarked: 'I was never notified beforehand and after.' Hayden is one of numerous federal government officials whom Trump has dismissed upon having been convinced that they were not aligned with his second presidency's plans. Just hours before her firing became public, the AAF used its X account to insult her as 'woke' and 'anti-Trump'. 'It's time to get her OUT,' the AAF also said on X, in part. Congressional Democrats reacted with fury to Hayden's termination. New York's Chuck Schumer, the top US Senate Democrat, said Hayden was a 'trailblazer, a scholar and a public servant of the highest order'. The New York representative Joseph Morelle, the highest-ranking Democrat on the US House's administration committee, called Hayden 'an American hero'. 'Hayden has spent her entire career serving people – from helping kids learn to read to protecting some of our nation's most precious treasures,' said Morelle, whose committee oversees the congressional library. The Library of Congress sits across from the US Capitol in Washington DC. It holds a vast collection of the US's books and history, making it available to federal lawmakers as well as the public. It archives the papers of presidents and supreme court justices and has collections of rare books, images, music and artifacts. In 2022, Hayden arranged for the singer Lizzo to play one of those artifacts: a flute owned by James Madison, who was US president from 1809 to 1817.
Associated Press
28-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Judge refuses to temporarily block the Trump administration from removing Copyright Office director
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge refused Wednesday to temporarily block the Trump administration from removing and replacing the director of the U.S. Copyright Office. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled from the bench that the office director, Shira Perlmutter, hasn't met her legal burden to show how removing her from the position would cause her to suffer irreparable harm. Kelly's refusal to issue a temporary restraining order isn't the final word in the lawsuit that Perlmutter filed last week. If Perlmutter decides to seek a preliminary injunction, the judge is giving her attorneys and government lawyers until Thursday afternoon to present him with a proposed schedule for arguing and deciding the matter. Perlmutter's attorneys say she is a renowned copyright expert who also has served as Register of Copyrights since the Librarian of Congress appointed her to the job in October 2020. Earlier this month, Trump appointed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to replace Carla Hayden as Librarian of Congress. The White House fired Hayden amid criticism from conservatives that she was advancing a 'woke' agenda. Perlmutter's lawyers argued that the president doesn't have the authority to unilaterally remove the Register of Copyrights or appoint an acting Librarian of Congress. ___
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Psaki: Trump's takeover of the Library of Congress is about 'more than just books"
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented Donald Trump in his 2024 New York hush money trial, has been appointed acting Librarian of Congress, replacing Carla Hayden. The White House dismissed Hayden following conservative criticism of her alleged 'woke' agenda. Jen Psaki fact-checks the White House's claims and explains why Trump's installation of Blanche is 'incredibly concerning.'
