This is exciting news! (And for those who are wondering, Carla Hayden—the new librarian of Congress—was born in Tallahassee, Florida.) The Guardian reports:

Carla Hayden made history when she was sworn in as the United States’ 14th librarian of Congress on Wednesday. Unlike her 13 predecessors, all of whom have been white men, Hayden is an African American woman. “Even though librarianship is one of the four what they call feminized professions – social work, education nursing, and librarianship – where 85% of the workforce is female, there haven’t been an equal amount of women in the leadership positions,” Hayden said in an interview.

Hayden is also only the third Librarian of Congress to actually have training as a librarian. “There have been lawyers and politicians, historians, scholars, librarians, and I think at this time it’s not a detriment to have a librarian be librarian of Congress,” she said.

The librarian of Congress oversees the world’s largest library system. As the name indicates, one of the main roles of the library is to assist Congress in the research it needs in order to pass bills. It also oversees the US copyright system, names the poet laureate, and preserves historical documents and books.

“Dr Hayden has devoted her career to modernizing libraries so that everyone can participate in today’s digital culture,” Barack Obama said when he nominated her. [. . .]

For full article, see https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/15/carla-hayden-librarian-congress-first-woman-african-american-post-interview