Department of archives and history. Ive been asked to remind everyone that youre more than welcome to take photographs. You can post to social media and the is this is the library of Congress Panel sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council and the first mississippi friends of the library. Mississippi is fortunate to have so strong a supporter of the literature, music and arts as congressman gregg harper. Now in his fifth term in the United States house of representatives, congressman harper cochairs the committee o House Administration serves on the house many of energy and commerce for joint micommittee printing and perhaps most importantly, for us today, the chair of the joint committee of the library of congress. Here is congressman gregg harper. [applause] thank you so much. What a great day for mississippi. The third annual mississippi book festival. All of the work that has been done, you cannot say not to all of the people that have participated. It is my honor to have in mississippi, doctor carla hayden who is 1 14 librarian of congress. Sworn in on september 14 of 2016. So still new on the job. And we had an edible day yesterday with her here in the state Library Commission and also we had just an amazing day. It was great. So i want you to know that when we, when you talk of rockstar status and i see susan here. When we had her with about 100 librarians stacross the state, was like elvis was in the room. [laughter] it was pretty special. Also, probably at about 1015 we will open this up for some q a. There is a podium in the back in the middle of the room there that you see with the microphone. If you have a question that you want to ask please feel free to go there. We were trying to get as many as we can in a 15 minute span and do that as well. And so, we please have a given war mississippi welcome to dr. Carla hayden. [applause] i just want to tell you how much we appreciate you taking the time out of incredibly busy schedule to come and join us. And we had a very busy day yesterday, how was that experience for you. A world wind. I just want to thank you when you mentioned that the librarians from all of the state. A second oxymoron. A librarian and a rock star. What was so, just inspiring and just reaffirming was that the fact that librarians and people to love books and reading, it is a community, it does not matter where you are, your state or in fact you remember chairman i also forgot where was because i was around my library peeps. I was like where am i . That is what unifies everyone. In mississippi it is such a strong tradition of Strong Library service. We estarted the day at the Supreme Court building of the state law library and that was an amazing experience to learn that the state of mississippi, which became a state in 1817 and 1818, was already planning and a resolution for the purchase of books and maps to preserve that history. It was very similar history of the library of congress. We had a recognition that members of any legislative body needed to refer to books and to get information and so i think that in fact, mississippi may have been just a e little bit o the library of congress with some of that. It is amazing, the library of congress was created in 1800. That is a long time ago. We have only had 14 librarians of congress it has been a long time. [laughter] and i can see why. Going into my anniversary, it is such a wonderful resource. It is of course, the Worlds Largest library. And it has grown into a resource for people in this country in ways that i am not even sure everybody recognize. That is another thing you will hear me talking about. How many millions of items are in the librarys collection . Well, 164 million items. 836 miles of shelving. That would be from where we are now in jackson mississippi all the way to davenport, iowa. So think about shelving. [laughter] it has a lot shelving this crowd thinks about shelving. And putting things back, think about that. So we have a very robust staff. The Staff Members are really, when you think about all of the collections, the Worlds Largest collection of baseball cards. The Worlds Largest collection of comic books. The first superman, the first bat i see a lot of young people in the audience good look at this. They are like, really . And just about every subject that you can think about. The library of congress has something about it. Lets talk about how you got into the library. Because that was, as a young graduate you were looking for a job, right . And now you are revealing something. I think i said this publicly before and it was wonderful yesterday to be at the mississippi Supreme Court. Where the wonderful law library and and everything because there was a time after i graduated from a Public Service university, Roosevelt University started by eleanor roosevelt. And it was the tradition of Public Service so i majored in history, Political Science and i was thinking okay, what now . But i needed employment. And unfortunately, a lot of the people who might have thought about employing me said you do not have experience. All you have done is go to school. Yes, there are some recent graduates here. What have you done . So but i love books and libraries and b things. Between job interviews i would go to the Central Library at the Chicago Public library. I was sitting there waiting on the next interview trying to think of some way to explain not having work experience. And a gentleman came up and say hey, carla he just graduated with me. He said are you here for the library job . They are hiring anybody [laughter] anyone with a undergraduate degree. Right . I thought, hey, i am here, i like it. I went upstairs and just to let you know, he did not get a job, i did. [laughter] he made out all right he is a company now. But, then i was assigned to a small front on the southside in chicago. With a young lady she would not nine say this, who was on the floor when i arrived with blue jeans on and she was having a storytime with children with autism. And i said, this is a little different. And it was about opening the doors to everyone to reading. And she was in graduate library school. That is when i found out, there is a profession . I mean you knew librarians and things but i did not know he did not plan to be a librarian. I am accidental librarian. Im truly the definition. But a lot of people i mean it just opened the world to me. It did. And it was something that matched my parents were old classically trained musicians and things like that. So by the age of 12 we all knew that was not going to be my path. But we also knew that i related to text with a related to notes in music. So they would look at musical notes and hear sound. I would look at words and i would hear people talking. In my head. Thats great, i know your mom is watching. Shes watching and listening and will critique. [laughter] as soon as we get home. You may want to check your phone. Luckily my mom has not advanced in technology. Im not going to let her. [laughter] that would be dangerous. Shes a lovely lady. We hope youll get her down. She encouraged me in terms of reading and i remember she would read and thats what we tried to do in terms of the thats why this festival is so important, making reading fun or something you want to do and not just a chore. Bit, you work at the Chicago Public library, you get your first real job there after graduating from college. So, to get from there, you have this incredible journey because i think you knew early on this was what you loved and wanted to stay in this profession. Right. I knew from that first storefront to the fact t f that wow, they pay you to introduce people to books and reading and being around all the books and librarian secrets, you get to see all the new books as soon as they come in. They are fresh and they smell good okay. [laughter] and then, but this love, they said you really have a passion for reading. It has been such a joy, a solace for me all my life. Your leadership skills have obviously been recognized from the very beginning, but your long tenure of a ceo of the phoenix pratt free ivory in maryland is probably why you were able to come into this position and you were there from 1993 until 2016. Right. You are also the president of the American Library association back in 2003 and four. Your leadership skills have long been recognized. Share a little bit about that experience you had at the free library. What did thatterrele mean. A lot of people dont know the history and what he meant to education. Mr. Pratt was a yankee, im in mississippi so i will say he was a yankee from middleborough massachusetts who went sout at south to baltimore to make his fortune. His father had made nails and was in hardware and mr. Pratt came down in 1856 and made his fortune there. He was a contemporary of other wellknown people in baltimore at the time that made fortunes, and the each picked a Public Institution to support. Mr. Hopkins h to the university, mr. Peabody did a museum, and mr. Pratt, who never had children, they still talk about that, he said he wanted to give the library to the city and he said i want my library to be free of politics and religion and he set up this Free Public Library and mr. Andrew carnegie, who is largely credited with starting the Public Library system in the United States wasnt having such a successful time when he was first trying to give libraries to communities, and he heard about mr. Pratt in baltimore and he came down to baltimore and mr. Pratt took him around and then he went off and said mr. Pratt was my pioneer and so theres that tradition there. What that meant to you, to go there and follow in their history. You, have broken a lot of barriers, and it has taken a while to break those barriers. For one reason, theyre only 13 librarians before you so they dont give those up once they get theme and we expect you not to give yours up. In the names of those librarians, daniel, and john, ts one and that one, and then carl carla. [laughter] i think shes female. For you to be the first woman librarian, the first africanamerican librarian, you look around the room and there are a lot of young people in this room. There certainly watching on tv , what you do to encourage someone who thanks their obstacles in their way. How do you share your story. Well theyre not just imagining obstacles, there are obstacles and in terms of my story, being s a female and you noticed i pointed that out, librarianship is one of the four summarized professions. Social work, education, nursing and librarianship. In fact, my Favorite Movie ending is its a wonderful life and remember at the end when he comes back and what wouldve happened and shes coming out of the library, fate worse than death. [laughter] librarians have a very strong stereotype and these feminized professions, 85 of the workforce is usually female but the top management doesnt reflect that. Being a female leader in the profession has been very, hopefully heartening for some of the young women that are in the profession, but also, being a person ofen color, and its so significant to be here in jackson where just yesterday, we were at the camera commemorative marker just yesterday and thema celebration of the fact that people wanted to read and integrate a Public Library meant so much for me being an africanamerican in this situation. And that was the trail marker at state street, just put up on thursday. Its really a remarkable story, and these were all students at tupelo. Yes. [applause] one of the great things they shared with us, about that story, was the fact that they were all students at two glue, they all went to check out books that were not on the campus library, that were only available there, and they were just sharp. They looked like young professional. That was so fun to think about. They did the research, they made sure, they went to the card catalog and make sure the books they were requesting were not available tha at the branch that was used by africanamericans so they couldnt be referred. They used a really good library track in terms of that , these books are not available. Theyre only available right here. And i couldnt search those online, and they had the evidence that these books were not available anywhere else, and thats what really pushed the issue. El so looking and thinking of young people now and the obstacles they face, in fact, having so Much Technology and so muchng information is being called a firehose of information. How do you decide and things like that, that just having that great, its not just because im here in mississippi, grit and grits. I had some last night. But determination, and also , sticking close to family and friends, those are your best partners whenever you are facing anything, and then to realize that tomorrow things might look a littleciny better. And you have, your work and your leadership, how you are encouraging so many people, theres still a lot of first to be done out there in the world, and they will look to you is that example. I think thats one reason, in 2016, Fortune Magazine named you as one of the top 50 leaders in the world. And myy mom, oh, thank you. [applause] my mom clipped it out but its so nice because every time she tries to tell me something i say could you look at this. And then she explains, the only reason you got that is because of her. There you go. Thats how that works. You also got to read a Childrens Book yesterday with some of the Young Students from the Mississippi School for the deaf, and what an experience. I think what that showed, you were withnk me, to see their eyes light up with that book, and with the interpreter and ththen it just became the book and the child, and thats the ultimate. Then when we told them, and we gave each child a copy of the book, and one young lady signed and she said can i take it home and we said this is for you, and she just hugged of the i book. She just hugged the book. Did, she made some arts and craft. The rainbow fish. We had everything, all things glitter. All things glitter until young ronnie said this is nice with the glitter and everything, can we make a shark and then all the kids wanted to make fins. That power, and then they wanted to write their names in the book and so they would sign the letter and write the name because with the love of reading, with this festival you can buy books, you can borrow books, you can lend books and get them back, but it doesnt matter. If you are a reader, you will read the back of a cereal box. A look. You will read anything. You just read stuff and thats the key. When you start, has anybody ever purchase the same book twice. [laughter] because you knew you like it and magazines are terrible because you definitely get the same magazine. Thats when you know you might have a problem. And books, her house. We understand they may have clean that up a little bit but there were books everywhere. Everywhere, on every surface. And she was very happy to see that. I felt better about my house. I said oh great. Youve not quite been on the job a year, but you are sworn in september 14 of 2016. Tell us how that experience was of having president obama call you to tell you they were going to name you to be the new library and. At first you have to realize that it is a real call and then you hear someone say would you serve as the 14th librarian of commerce and that was the key word for me that you would serve because it gets to the concept, and in the library of congress is a wonderful exhibit about bob hope, the comedian, andfu his daughter is working with us now to emphasize that he used his comedic genius to serve the troops. Whatever profession youre in, everybody can serve. That was the key for me and really the part that said okay, what can i do at the library ofca congress and its really opening up the library of congress. You can fill in the blank in the library of congress has it and you can connect with it, theres a table, we have a table outside with all the projects, and even a bookmark that emphasizes, ask a librarian whether youre visiting the library of congress in person or online, ask us a question and receive expert assistance from our librarians and subject specialist, and then theres the tin man here, if i only had a librarian. Thats great. That is great. What an incredible experience that mustve been to know, not only were you getting the dream job of every librarian in the world. That and owning a bookstore. Yes, there you go. You can do both. Thats a possibility. Too do that and about two months into the job youre at the gershwin awards. Can you tell us a little bit about what thatu is from the library of congress and that first experience. Well, the library of congress has so many collections. They have the collection of George Gershwin, the Great American composer that you think summertime, you think all that. Each year the library of Congress Gives an award to an outstanding contributor to american song, and two months in i was asked to present the George Gershwin award to mr. Joe robson. Let me just say, val is not a hardship. I thought, i remembered what my grandma used to say when my grandma was doing Different Things in librarianship. She never thought being a librarian would lead to all this. I knew she was really looking down onn that one. To have him come to the library of congress and see his scores for all of his wonderful songs next to the original manuscript of summertime in George Gershwins hands, and i brought him to tears because he said my work is now here and recognize with George Gershwin. And then he sang. It was tracks of my tears. I know. It was a moment. It was something. Thats one of th