Governance

Librarian of Congress

The Librarian of Congress is the presidentially-appointed head of the agency and has legal authority to make rules and regulations governing the Library of Congress and to accept to receive gifts or bequests of money for immediate disbursement in the interest of the Library, its collections, or its service.

Meet the Librarian

Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress on September 14, 2016. Dr. Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library, was nominated to the position by President Barack Obama on February 24, 2016, and her nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate later that year on July 13.

Her vision for America’s national library, connecting all Americans to the Library of Congress, has redefined and modernized the Library’s mission: to engage, inspire and inform Congress and the American people with a universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity.

Prior to her current role, Dr. Hayden was the CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland, since 1993. She was the deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library from 1991 to 1993, an assistant professor of library and information science at the University of Pittsburgh from 1987 to 1991 and library services coordinator for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago from 1982 to 1987. She began her career with the Chicago Public Library as the young adult services coordinator from 1979 to 1982 and as a library associate and children’s librarian from 1973 to 1979.

Dr. Hayden was president of the American Library Association from 2003 to 2004. In 1995, she was the first African American to receive Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year Award in recognition of her outreach services at the Pratt Library, which included an after-school center for Baltimore teens offering homework assistance and college and career counseling. Hayden received a B.A. from Roosevelt University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago.

Trust Fund Board

The Library’s Trust Fund Board is authorized to accept, receive, hold, and administer such gifts or bequests of personal property for the benefit of, or in connection with, the Library, its collections, or its service, as may be approved by the board and by the Joint Committee on the Library. The Trust Fund Board also advises on the investment of the Library’s gift and trust funds. Board membership consists of the following positions:

• Secretary of the Treasury (or an Assistant Secretary designated by the Secretary of the Treasury),
• Chairman and the vice chair of the Joint Committee on the Library
• Librarian of Congress
• Two persons appointed by the President for a term of five years each
• Four persons appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives for a term of five years each
• Four persons appointed by the majority leader of the Senate for a term of five years each

Meet the Trust Fund Board

Ex Officio Members

• Librarian of Congress: Carla Hayden
• Chairperson, Joint Committee on the Library of Congress: Representative Bryan Steil
• Vice Chairperson/Ranking Member, Joint Committee on the Library of Congress: Senator Amy Klobuchar
• Fiscal Assistant, Secretary of the Treasury (representing the Hon. Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury): David Lebryk

Presidential Appointments

• Virginia Thomas
• Eric Mindich

House of Representatives Appointments

• Elizabeth Beretta-Perik
• Lawrence P. Fisher
• Cynthia Fisher
• Iris Weinshall

Senate Appointments

• Kathleen L. Casey
• J. Richard Fredericks
• Christopher G. Long
• Kevin Young