The Library Bulletin

Carla Hayden has been sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress in the US this week. Hayden highlighted the significance of her promotion by stating that the profession was “feminized” when Melvil Dewey, who created the Dewey decimal system, said “it was time to let women in because there was a lot of monotonous work to do. And he also said women in public libraries could be hostesses because they were part of the home”. “Oh he was quite the fellow,” Hayden said, laughing. “So for a woman to be actual manager, CEO, is poetic justice.”

“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.

Hayden was the head of Baltimore’s library system since 1993 until she resigned earlier this year, after her nomination. When unrest erupted in the city after the death of Freddie Gray, a young black man who died in police custody, Hayden kept the libraries open, even though almost everything else was closed. “My thinking was that at a time of crisis the library should try to be open,” she said. “And it was heartening that the staff members were willing.”

Read more of the story here via the guardian