Carla Hayden

Dr Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress on 14 September 2016. Hayden is the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library. Prior to her latest post, she served, from 1993, as CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland and was Deputy Commissioner and Chief Librarian of the Chicago Public Library from 1991 to 1993. Hayden has held various roles including 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 began her career with the Chicago Public Library as the young adult services coordinator and as a library associate and children’s librarian. In 1995, she was the first African American to receive Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year Award in recognition of her outreach service at the Pratt Library, which included an after-school centre for Baltimore teens offering homework assistance and college and career counselling. Hayden received a BA from Roosevelt University and an MA and PhD from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago.