Changes, Recruitment, and Uncertainty: An Unprecedented Era for the 225-Year-Old Library of Congress

The Library of Congress, a 225-year-old Washington institution, has never had a moment like this.

A week ago, the Trump administration dismissed Carla Hayden, who had served as the librarian of Congress for a long time. Todd Blanche, appointed by President Donald Trump as the temporary librarian, might not actually hold that position. Furthermore, the legality of Hayden’s dismissal is questionable.

Here’s more about the library, Hayden’s ouster and the mystery of who’s in charge now:

What is the Library of Congress?

The Library of Congress, the oldest cultural institution at the federal level in the United States, was established in 1800 through legislation enacted by President John Adams. The library traditionally receives support across political parties.

Renowned as “the largest library in the world,” the Library of Congress could also be seen as the nation’s informal repository of memory. It houses over 100 million books, recordings, images, and other artifacts and maintains an extensive online archive. Its vast collection is distributed across three buildings on Capitol Hill.

Each year, the library’s National Film Registry chooses 25 movies “showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage.” The National Recording Registry selects for preservation sound recordings that “are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States.”

The library also manages the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, which responds to tens of thousands of requests from Congress each year. Communications are confidential from disclosure under the “speech or debate” clause of the U.S. Constitution. Library of Congress events include an annual book festival, tours, films, exhibits and conferences.

The Library of Congress is not a traditional circulating library but is instead a research library. No one under 16 can get a reader card to access the collection. Those 16 and 17 require a parent’s permission.

What does the librarian of Congress do?

The librarian has a wide range of responsibilities, from overseeing the Library of Congress’ collections to selecting the country’s poet laureate to awarding the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.

Librarians serve 10-year terms, and Hayden’s was scheduled to end in 2026.

Her predecessors include James Billington, Daniel Boorstin and Archibald MacLeish.

Who was fired? Who was hired?

Late last week, the Trump administration abruptly fired Hayden, the first Black person and the first woman to hold the position. Hayden, nominated by President Barack Obama in 2015 and confirmed 74-18 by the Republican-led Senate the following year, was informed via email that “your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”

More upheavals quickly followed. The White House fired U.S. Copyright Office head Shira Perlmutter, whom Hayden had appointed in 2020. The Justice Department then announced that Blanche, the deputy attorney general, had been named acting librarian of Congress and that Paul Perkins, an associate deputy attorney general and veteran Justice Department attorney, was acting director of the Copyright Office.

Blanche was a member of Trump’s defense team in his New York hush money trial, which ended last year in a conviction on 34 felony counts.

Why was Hayden fired?

The White House cited no specific reason in its email to her, although Trump has been purging officials he believes opposed to him and his policies. The conservative American Accountability Foundation had alleged she was promoting children’s books with “radical content,” and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that she was “putting inappropriate books in the library for children.”

A copy of virtually every book published in the U.S. during a given year is given to the Copyright Office, with the Library of Congress deciding whether to include it in the main collection.

Hayden’s firing was denounced by Democrats, librarians, educators and others, including the outgoing U.S. poet laureate, Ada Limón. Appointed by Hayden in 2022, Limón called her the “kindest, brightest, most generous Librarian of Congress we could have hoped for as a nation.”

Did the White House have the legal right to fire her?

Despite being nominated by the president, the librarian of Congress is a legislative branch employee and appoints leaders to other positions under it, such as the assistant librarian and the director of the Copyright Office.

That’s why a dispute between Congress and the White House has erupted as Republican leaders sort out how much authority the president — the head of the executive branch — has in tapping an acting librarian.

Usually, if that position is vacant, an interim librarian is chosen from the current ranks of the Library of Congress.

Who is in charge right now?

Although Blanche was announced as acting librarian, he has yet to turn up at the Library of Congress offices, according to a person with knowledge of internal operations. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The library is currently being run by Robert Randolph Newlen, the person says.

Newlen had been principal deputy librarian, and, per library regulations, was in line to succeed the librarian of Congress in case of absence or temporary unavailability.

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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report from Washington.