Transcripts For CSPAN2 A Conversation With Librarian Of Cong

CSPAN2 A Conversation With Librarian Of Congress Carla Hayden July 12, 2024

At the mississippi book festival in jackson to talk about literacy and american libraries. [inaudible conversations] good morning everyone. Welcome to the third mississippi book festival. In the Mississippi Department of archives and history. Ive been asked to remind everyone that you are more than welcome to take photographs, post to social media, and the hash tag is literarylongparty. This is the conversation with the library of Congress Panel sponsored by the Mississippi Humanities Council and friends of the library. Mississippi is fortunate to have so strong a supporter as its literature, music and art as congressman greg harper. Now in his fifth term in the United States house of representatives, congressman harper chairs the committee on House Administration and serves on the House Committee on energy and commerce, the joint committee on printing and perhaps most pertinently for us here today, as the chair of the joint committee of the library of congress. Here is congressman gregg harper. [applause] than thank you so much. What a great day, the third annual mississippi book festival. All the work thats been done. You cant say enough to the people that have participated. But it is my honor to have doctor carla hayden is the 14th library of Congress Sworn in on september 14 to 2016, so still new on the job. And we had an incredible day yesterday with her here at the state Library Commission and also we had an amazing day. It was great. So i want you to know that when you talk about rockstar status, and i will see susan here with about 100 librarians from across the state it was like elvis was in the room. About ten or 15 minutes, we will open up for q a. Theres a podium in the back in the middle of the room that you see with a microphone so if you have a question that you want to ask him if he didnt go please feel free and we will get about as many as we can in a 15 minute span. Please help me get a mississippi welcome to doctor carla hayden. [applause] i just want to tell you how much we appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to come and join us. I knew you flew in thursday night and then we had a very busy day yesterday. How was that experience . Guest when you mentioned librarians from all over the state, it is like an oxymoron, a librarian and rockstar. [laughter] so it was so inspiring and reaffirming was the fact that librarians and people who love books and reading is a community that doesnt matter where you are in fact he remember i even forgot where i was because i was around my library people. Like where am i. That is what unifies everyone and mississippi is such a strong tradition of library service. We started at the Supreme Court building up a state law library and the path was an amazing experience to learn the state of mississippi that became a state in 1818 was already planning how to resolution for the purchase of books and maps to preserve the history that was coming. It was a similar history of the library of congress where you have a recognition that members of any legislative body needed to refer to books and get information and so i think that infect mississippi might have been just a little bit of the library of congress with some of the. The library was created in 1800. Thats a long time ago and weve only had 14 librarians of congress. They stay a long time and i can see why. And going into my anniversary, it is such a wonderful resource. It is the Worlds Largest library, and its grown into a resource for people in this country in ways that im not sure everybody even recognized him as if it is another thing you can hear me talking about. How many millions of items were in the librarys collecti collection . 164 million items. 836 miles of shelving so that would be from where we are now in jackson mississippi all the way to davenport iowa. So think about shelving. It has a lot of shelving. [laughter] and putting the things back. So, we have a very robust staff member and when you think about all the collections, so we are the largest collection of baseball cards and comic books. The first superman i see a lot of young people in the audience. Like really. [laughter] just about every subject you can think about the library of congress has something about it. Lets talk about how you got into the library because as a young graduate, you are looking for a job. Guest i think that i said this publicly before. It was wonderful yesterday to be at the mississippi Supreme Court where the Wonderful Library and everything because theyre busy time after i graduated from Public Service university started by eleanor roosevelt. She still carries that tradition of Public Service, so im injured in history, Political Science and i was thinking okay what now but i needed employme employment. A lot of the people who might have thought about employing me means that you dont have any experience. All youve done is go to school. There are some recent graduates i would say that. So because i love books and libraries and everything between job interviews i would go to the central library. So im sitting there waiting on the next interview trying to think of a way of not having Work Experience and a gentle man, panda said carla, are you here for the library jobs, they are hiring anybody. [laughter] anybody with an undergraduate degree. I am here, i like it. Just to let you know, he didnt get the job, i did. He made out all right. Hes got a company now. Hes doing fine. Then i was assigned to a small storefront on the south side of chicago with a young lady who was on the floor when i arrived with blue jeans on and she was having a storytime for children with autism. I said this is a little different. It was about opening up the doors to everyone to reading. Thats when i found out theres a profession . I am truly the definition, but then it was just that open in the world to me it was something i matched. My parents were both classically trained musicians and things like that, so by the age of 12, we knew that wasnt going to be my past. But they also knew that i related to text the way they related to notes so they would look at musical notes and hear sound and music and i would hear people talking in my head. That i know that your mom is watching. Watching. And listening and critique. You might want to check your phone she may have been checking you with text messages. Spinet she is a lovely lady. She encouraged me in terms of reading and i remember she would read and thats what we tried to do. Thats why this festival is so important. Making reading fun or something you want to do and not just h. For. You get your first real job after graduating from college and so to get from there its an incredible journey because i think that you knew early on this is what you wanted was to stay in this profession. I knew from first storefront, they pay you to introduce books and reading and you are around all the books and they see the new books as soon as they come in so they are fresh and smoked. [laughter] do you have a passion for reading and its been such a joy for me. Your leadership skills have been recognized from the very beginning. But your tenure as the ceo in baltimore maryland and probably why you were not able to come into this position. Your leadership skills have long been recognized, so share about that experience that you had and what that meant. A lot of people dont know the history. He was a yankee from middleboro massachusetts who went south to baltimore to make his fortune. His father made nails with hardware so his father came down and 56 and made his fortune and he was a contemporary of the other kind of wellknown people in baltimore at the time and they each picked a Public Institution to support, so he did at university, mr. Peabody did a museum and mr. Pratt who never had children, and they still talk about that, 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 sets up this free Public Library. Library. And mr. Andrew carnegie whose largely credited with starting the system in the United States wasnt having such a successful time when he was trying t to get the libraries to communities and he heard about mr. Pratt baltimore and he took him around and then he went off and said he was my pioneer. But they do need to follow you and the following in history. You have broken a lot of barriers and its taken a while to break those barriers. There were only 13 librarians before you. They dont give those up once they give them. And the names, danielle, jo john, this one, that one and carla. [laughter] for you to be the first woman, first africanAmerican Library in a. What do you do to encourage someone that the obstacles in their way, how do you share your story with them . Guest them . Guest they are not just imagining them, they are obstacles and in terms of my story, and noticed i pointed that out as one of the four professions, social work, education, and in fact my Favorite Movie is a wonderful wife come and remember at the end when he comes back and shes coming out of a library. [laughter] librarians have a strong stereotype and 85 of the workforce is female but he doesnt reflect that and so being a female leader in the profession has been very heartening for some of the women in the profession but also being a person of color, and its so significant to be here in jackson where just yesterday we were asked commemorative marker just yesterday and the celebration of the fact that people wanted to read and integrate a Public Library means so much for me being an africanamerican and being in this situation. And that was the trail marker just put up on thursday it was a remarkable story. [applause] one of the great things they shared with us about that story they were all students and they all went to check out books that were not on the Campus Library that were only available there and they were dressed sharp they looked like young professionals. That was fun to think about. They did the research so they made sure they went to the card catalog and made sure the books they were requesting were not available at the branch so these books are not available. And they couldnt Search Online and they had the evidence that they were not available anywhere else and that is what pushed the issue so looking now at the obstacles they face. How do you decide on things like that its not just because im here, the mississippi grit and grids. But the determination and also sticking close to family and friends. You have your work and leadership in how you are encouraging so many people there is a lot of firsts and they look to you as that example. Thats one reason why fortune e magazine named you as one of the top leaders in the world. My mom switched it out. [applause] its nice because every time she tries to tell me something i say can you look at a . [laughter] then she explains the only reason you got that is because of her. You also got to read a Childrens Book yesterday and some of the Young Students from the Mississippi School for deaf. What an experience. I think what that showed, and you were with me to see their eyes light up with that book and the interpreter and then it just became the book and the child and we gave each one a copy of the book and one young lady signed and said can i take it home. And she just hugged the book. And then did some arts and crafts. Ronnie said that this is nice with the glitter, can we make and then all the kids wanted to make fans. But then how they wanted to write their names in the book so they signed the letter and would write the name. Thats why this festival you can buy books and borrow books and blended them and get them back. If you are a reader you will read the back of a cereal box. You will just read stuff and thats the key. Do you ever purchased the same book twice . [laughter] because you know you liked it. And magazines are terrible. Thats when you know that you might have a problem and books. She was happy to see that i will say. I felt better about my house. I said great. They were sworn in on septembe september 14 of 2016. Tell us how that experience was of having president obama call you to tell you they were going to name used to be the new. First it is a real call and then you hear someone say what you serve as the 14th library of congress and that was the key word for me. His daughter is working with us now to emphasize that he used his comedic genius to serve the troops and that is whatever profession you are in, anybody can serve and that was the key for me and the part that said okay, what can i do at the library of congress and its opening up the library of congress. You can fill in the blank and connect the veterans history. There is a table of all the projects and things and even a bookmark that emphasizes ask us a question and receive expert assistance and then theres the tin man here if i only had a librarian. [laughter] was an incredible experience that must have been to know not only were you getting that dream job of every library in the world. That is a possibility. But to have that and then about two months into the job can you tell folks a little bit about what the award is from the library of congress. Let me say that it was a hardship and i remember what my grandmother used to say when i was doing different things. I brought him to tears. That is one of the perks of the job and all the other work. I know we cannot go into any details other than there is a date into the next recipient is. Heres another thing, i had to call mr. Tony bennett. I know. But thats what i want young people to know, library of congress isnt so bad. Mr. Tony bennett, the first person to be given the gershwin award for his interpretation of popular song. He was so touched and said am i really the first person, and the people that will be part of this program i cant say it yet because we are still confirming that that is just an old phone everybodys going to be there to pay tribute to mr. Tony bennett. Nobody has more of a duet collection. Think about all the people he has done a duet with. That will be televised usually in february. Experience with the library of congress and just what this festival is all also illustrating is the unifying power of the arts. Music and literature and in fact last year, mr. Samuel jackson was the mc and at one particular Smokey Robinson song, was if my girl . Because you were singing. They were singing. Not well. [laughter] lets just say we had everybody from every party, every state, every thing. As mr. Jackson said, this is bipartisan. Bipartisan karaoke. [laughter] [applause] everybody knew the words. Of course on the news we see all the divisiveness sometimes between the parties, but this is something that brings people together. And this festival is bringing people together and that is what you are going to see. The diversity. The different interests. My day version of life to have been on the joint committee and library of Congress Since i go. Got there eight and a half years ago it is remarkable, but when you look for that and where the parties do need to come together and Work Together but it is the gershwin towards, to little bit about the congressional dialogues where you pack them in, republicans, democrats, senators and house members. To get a sense of what the current authors are and even offers that are writing about history and what has been very heartening for me when i listened to the discussions and the questions and answers is a genuine everyone should be heartened by this i its called congressional dialogues with around books. But its about an idea of the dialogue and books. We are giving about ten of those a year and they are in the grand hall. They are beautiful. We have a dinner where everybody comes together and then you have a talk writer that has a maybe former president , maybe someone that maybe wasnt the president is very important in history. The best thing is when dinner is over with, the members all get a book. [laughter] an autographed book. So there you go. Remembering mentioned charles, there were a few members of congress o that were hugging those books. I noticed that. But thats what i think we should all celebrate. Theres a reason why its called a book festival. Its something you can see people tend to talk about it. The library of congress is working with the federal archives in windsor for the first time. The papers and materials in our George Washington and the library has the papers of 23 president s from George Washington to coolidge. For the first time there will be an exhibit of the papers. And the recent visit is those two men were reading some of the same books the same time so what was it and to really look at so the unifying power of books. Is at the history that is available to anyone that comes . For digitizing more things we put the papers of rosa parks online. You can download so many things. We put im a baseball fan so we put the scouting reports people do not know what a baseball junkie you are. Fan. May be more than a fan. I did want to be a shortstop when i was a kid. [laughter] my grandfather lived in springfield, illinois, and he was one of those baseball fans would have two radios going, too on the porch and then there was a little blackandwhite tv and then he would take me out to the st. Louis cardinals that was a big deal. So you started out as a cardinals fan and you still are a cardinals fan but also theres a team in chicago people are still recovering fr from. I hear they are doing pretty well this year. I dont know if the city can take it but they would accept it when i found out the library has the scouting reports of the legendary baseball scout to read his reports he said he had some talent. To see these reports and what he said about these players and then to know their history and relationship with the library of congress, so all these treasures that has been the greatest joy for me. The greatest has been working with the staff. The surprising thing is how many things are still being d

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