US President Donald Trump has sacked Dr Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, following a campaign from a right-wing lobby group to have her removed from her position.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said there had been concerns about Dr Hayden’s performance saying she’d pursued an approach that embraced diversity, equity and inclusion.
“There were quite concerning things that she had done at the Library of Congress in the pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children.” Leavitt said.
The US Library of Congress however is not like a library where members of the public can drop in and borrow books, it’s a repository of books of importance. The administration has not offered any information on which books were of concern.
Dr Carla Hayden was appointed to the role by President Barack Obama in 2016 and has severed in the role through President Trump’s first presidency and the presidency of Joe Biden.
Conservative advocacy group American Accountability Foundation (AAF) had been calling for Dr Hayden to be removed from her role. They appear to have raised concern over Dr Hayden speaking out against the growing number of book bans occurring across the USA>
The American Library Association (ALA) has recently shared its annual report into banned books, and once against LGBTQ+ themed titles have topped the list.
The AAF has accused Dr Hayden of using her position to “push to indoctrinate America’s children with radical sexual ideologies.” and also complained that she let pop star Lizzo play a crystal flute one owned by President James Madison during a visit to the Library of Congress.
“Carla Hayden is woke, anti-Trump, and promotes trans-ing kids,” the group wrote on social media. “It’s time to get her OUT and hire a new guy for the job!”
It appears that the decision to remove Hayden from her position has come directly from President Trump and not from the the congressional committee who have jurisdiction over the library.
PEN America, the non-profit group that defends free expression, has raised concern over the move from Trump administration, noting that earlier this year President Trump also took control of the operations of The Kennedy Centre.
“Controlling cultural institutions is part of the authoritarian playbook,” Hadar Harris, Managing Director of PEN America’s Washington DC Office, said. “The firing of Dr. Hayden is a Kremlineque move to suppress ideas and to send a chill through the leadership of cultural and educational institutions. The message seems obvious: Comply or be fired.”
