# Carla Hayden The **14th Librarian of Congress**, sworn in September 2016 — the first woman and the first African American to hold the post. A former CEO of Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library and past president of the American Library Association, Hayden led the [[Library of Congress]] until her abrupt dismissal by the Trump administration in May 2025. ## Stub — fill out Hayden's firing touched off a constitutional dispute over control of the Library, a legislative-branch institution: her deputy [[Robert Newlen]] was recognized by Library staff as acting Librarian, while the White House named [[Todd Blanche]] to the role. The removal fit the broader second-term campaign against independent, fact-producing institutions documented across the [[Legislative Agencies Hub]]. To expand: full biography, tenure and digitization initiatives, and the circumstances and aftermath of the 2025 dismissal. ## See also - [[Library of Congress]] - [[Robert Newlen]] - [[Legislative Agencies Hub]]