[Colorado-Talk] Trump Fires Librarian of Congress

[Peggy Chong]

Hello All.  I learned of this today from Julia Zanon and Oh MY Gosh!!! It is
true. I did not think that Trump could fire the head of the Library of
Congress as it is the Congresses library, but he did.  Here is an article
from USA Today. In other articles, he talks about the collection having
offensive material. This is where our books for the blind come from.  I did
not think I would ever be saying this but our collection is in danger of
censorship.

 

Peggy Chong

 

Via email, Trump fires head of Library of Congress

Trevor Hughes <https://www.usatoday.com/staff/4395312002/trevor-hughes/> 

USA TODAY

 

President Donald Trump fired the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, via
email, a move that immediately drew sharp condemnation from her supporters.

 

"President Trump's ignorant decision will impact America's libraries, our
copyrighted economic interests, and service to the American people by
threatening support for Congress," Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat,
posted to social media shortly after Hayden's firing became public late May
8. "His decision is a complete disgrace."

 

Added Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat: "Donald Trump just fired my
dear friend Dr. Carla Hayden - the Librarian of Congress - via email. This
is disgraceful. The Library of Congress represents some of the best America
has to offer. Equal access to learning for all."

 

 

Hayden was nominated to her position by then-President Barack Obama in 2016,
and confirmed by the Senate a year later. She was the first woman and first
Black American to lead the nation's official library, which as the world's
largest library records and preserves millions of books, films, photos and
manuscripts. It's also home to the U.S. Copyright Office.

 

Hayden appeared before a Congressional committee earlier in the week, facing
questions from a library modernization project whose cost has ballooned
while completion deadlines have been repeatedly delayed.

 

 

Hayden is a professional librarian who first met Obama when she worked at
the Chicago Public Library. She had been leading the "Of the People"
initiative to bring more works from Black, indigenous, Hispanic or Latino,
Asian American and Pacific Islander and other communities of color into the
library's collections.

 

 

Trump has repeatedly targeted programs and people who he considers
improperly advancing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The White
House did not immediately offer a statement or comment on Hayden's firing.

 

Critics of Trump's decision lambasted both the firing itself and the way it
was carried out: via an email sent to Hayden at 6:56 p.m. Eastern time.

 

 

"While President Trump wants to ban books and tell Americans what to read -
or not to read at all, Dr. Hayden has devoted her career to making reading
and the pursuit of knowledge available to everyone," New Mexico Sen. Martin
Heinrich, a Democrat, said in a statement.

 

 

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