The first African American and female Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, joins Christopher Cermak to discuss the role of libraries as a cornerstone of democracy and her efforts to spread the word about their wonders. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I'm the child of two musicians, so I have no talent, so that's why I'm a librarian.
But I do recognize music.
And I knew about this young lady who was a classically trained flutist, but she's a big pop star.
And I've been talking about this for while.
I knew her because the Library of Congress has the world's largest collection of a single instrument, the flute.
So I said, boy, wouldn't it be good when I heard about this young lady if she could play, Young person on the team said, you know, she's coming for a concert in Washington.
Why don't we.
And I think the term is tag her Twitter.
Anyway, Lizzo and her mother and some of the people that work with her spent three hours in the music vault playing these different historic flutes, piccolo, all of that.
That's when you know this is a musician that really knows the instrument.
To pick up something from 1750 and be able to say that.
So our music curator was okay.
She's got chops.
Since her appointment by former President Barack Obama in 2016, Dr.
Carla Hayden has served as the Librarian of Congress, the world's largest library.
She's the first African American and first woman to hold the position and the first person with a background as a public librarian in 70 years, having served as head of libraries in Baltimore and Chicago before taking on her current position.
At a time when libraries around the world are getting a makeover, Dr.
Hayden is leading a $60 million overhaul of the 125-year-old Thomas Jefferson Building, the library's oldest and main building.
Her broader goal has been to make the Library of Congress more accessible to the public and more responsive to the country's other public libraries.
In this interview, you will hear Dr.