The Architect
Structured and legacy-driven; builds the systems and institutions that last.
Carla Hayden is The Architect because she took America's oldest federal cultural institution and systematically rebuilt its relationship with the public. The first woman and first African American to serve as Librarian of Congress, she digitised vast collections, opened the institution's physical and intellectual access, and designed governance structures meant to serve democratic participation for generations.
“Well, we have wonderful philanthropic support, the James Madison Council. You definitely have been the leader of that. And that's the philanthropic arm of the library. And so there are actual donations of cash or that, but also grants. The Mellon Foundation gave the library one of its largest grants ever.”
“Well, we've started to be a card member, to use the 18 reading rooms of the library card. You might be 16. It's a card, it's a reader's card to give you access to the materials to say that you're responsible in that, even though you can't check them out. It's to have a record of who's coming in and to do that.”
“Now, the librarian of Congress is basically the CEO of the entire enterprise. And that includes the U.S. copyright office, a Library of Congress in 1870 became the administrative operation and really the main manager of the U.S. copyright system.”
“I went back and I went back because one of my students that I had sent off with all this Knowledge is power and go and work in these libraries and help people and everything. He came back and said Going to get a PhD and I want to teach. And I said, but you were doing so well, I thought, at this big urban library.”
The David Rubenstein Show: “Carla Hayden”
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