Librarian of Congress Approved

Publishers Lunch

In a turnabout from the reported delay we wrote about Wednesday morning, by a substantial vote of 74 to 18, on Wednesday afternoon the US Senate confirmed Carla Hayden for a 10-year term as Librarian of Congress in a roll call vote. She is the fourteenth person to hold the post.

In other personnel news, Graywolf Press publisher Fiona McCrae will join the National Book Foundation board of directors, the third new member announced this year. "Fiona is widely respected in both the publishing and nonprofit worlds, and we are honored to have someone with Fiona’s deep expertise as both a publisher and a nonprofit leader join our Board," National Book Foundation board chairman David Steinberger said in the announcement. "Fiona's impressive skills in increasing resources and creating opportunities are tremendous assets to the expansion of the Foundation."

And from Shelf Awareness:

Hayden Confirmed as Librarian of Congress

Carla Hayden

Yesterday, by a vote of 74-18, the U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Carla D. Hayden as the 14th Librarian of Congress, for a renewable 10-year term. The longtime CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library system in Baltimore and a former president of the American Library Association was nominated by President Barack Obama in February. As the first woman, and the first African American, to serve as chief executive of the Library of Congress, Dr. Hayden succeeds acting librarian David S. Mao, who has served since the retirement of Dr. James H. Billington last September. She will be sworn in at a date to be determined and is expected to assume her duties soon.

"This is truly a great honor to be nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the nation's library, the Library of Congress," Dr. Hayden said. "It has been my privilege to serve the citizens of Baltimore for 23 years and help restore the Enoch Pratt Free Library as a world-renowned institution. I look forward to working with the dedicated staff of the Library of Congress. I will be honored to build on the legacy and accomplishments of my predecessors in this position, to be part of a continuing movement to open the treasure chest that is the Library of Congress even further and to make it a place that can be found and used by everyone."

Dr. Hayden has recently overseen the renovation of the central branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, a four-year, $112 million project, and has also led $40 million in renovations to other units within the 22-branch Pratt system. She took the helm of the Baltimore system in 1993. Before that, Dr. Hayden was deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library, assistant professor for Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh and library services coordinator for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. She received Library Journal's 1995 Librarian of the Year Award.