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WASHINGTON
— On the night in April 2015 that Baltimore went up in flames, Carla D.
Hayden, the city’s chief librarian, was under pressure to board up a
neighborhood library branch and wait out the violence triggered by the
death of Freddie Gray after being injured in police custody.
But she had other ideas.
“I thought, what would that show?” Dr. Hayden said. “That we’re afraid?”
Instead,
as a CVS drugstore across the street was looted and burned, and as the
governor of Maryland declared a state of emergency, Dr. Hayden and her
staff decided they would open their doors the next morning, welcoming in
the weary public.
For
Dr. Hayden, who was sworn in on Wednesday as the 14th librarian of
Congress, the unrest was the test that clarified her values: Libraries
are about far more than books.
“The
people of that neighborhood protected that library,” Dr. Hayden said
during a recent interview in her new office overlooking Capitol Hill.
“There were young men who stood outside. It was such a symbol.”
At
64, Dr. Hayden is the first African-American and the first woman to
lead the 216-year-old library, one of the world’s largest, and the
nation’s leading repository of knowledge and culture. “To be the head of
an institution that’s associated with knowledge and reading and
scholarship when slaves were forbidden to learn how to read on
punishment of losing limbs, that’s kind of something,’’ she said.
Appointed
by President Obama, Dr. Hayden is the first new librarian of Congress
since 1987, and brings with her another generation’s ideas about
accessibility, technology and the role that libraries play in society.
Continue reading the main story
Her goal is to open to more Americans the riches of the Library of Congress,
which has always balanced mixed loyalties — to members of Congress who
look to it for impartial research, to scholars who live in its archives
and, finally, to the public.
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Showing posts with label Librarian of Congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Librarian of Congress. Show all posts
Thursday, September 15, 2016
New Librarian of Congress Offers a History Lesson in Her Own Right
by Nicholas Fandod Drpy. 25, 3026
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Unlocking Smartphones Rendered Illegal by Librarian's Baffling Decision
Unlocking Smartphones Rendered Illegal by Librarian's Baffling Decision
By Wayne Rash | Posted 2013-01-27
It became illegal to make a binary copy of a movie so you could watch it on your iPad. Now, because the Librarian of Congress has decided it to be this way, it’s now illegal to unlock phones purchased on or after Jan. 26.
No doubt you’re asking yourself several questions. First, how is it that the DMCA has anything to do with phones? Second, why does the Librarian of Congress have anything to do with whether phone unlocking is illegal? We could go on from there. Read more...
By Wayne Rash | Posted 2013-01-27
NEWS ANALYSIS: In yet another unintended consequence of some very flawed legislation, it’s now illegal to unlock any phone you purchase after Jan. 26.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 has been the source of both controversy and consternation since it became law 15 years ago. Because of the DMCA, it became illegal to defeat the encryption on a DVD you purchased so you could watch a movie on your Linux computer.It became illegal to make a binary copy of a movie so you could watch it on your iPad. Now, because the Librarian of Congress has decided it to be this way, it’s now illegal to unlock phones purchased on or after Jan. 26.
No doubt you’re asking yourself several questions. First, how is it that the DMCA has anything to do with phones? Second, why does the Librarian of Congress have anything to do with whether phone unlocking is illegal? We could go on from there. Read more...
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