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Episode Introduction
Jacob Hodes: When a society is at risk of polarization, what helps keep it together?
In a word, things we share: a common identity; a sense of purpose that we agree on; a collective hope for what our country might be. And institutions that advance our values.
Our communities depend on social infrastructure. Museums, courts, schools—all of them have something important to say about our shared story. But no place, I think, says more than our libraries.
Libraries are, of course, repositories of information. But not only that: They’re accelerators of learning and ambition; they serve as physical and emotional centers in our communities; and they help forge our future as well as understand our present and past.
I’m Jacob Hodes, and I’m a partner at Brown Advisory. It’s my pleasure today to talk with the leader of our country’s oldest federal institution, and one of its greatest, the Library of Congress.
The Librarian of Congress is Dr. Carla Hayden, whom I’ve had the privilege of knowing and working closely with over the past decade.
Guest
Carla Hayden, Ph.D.
Librarian of Congress
Carla Hayden, Ph.D., 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 Obama on February 24, 2016, and her nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 13. Prior to her latest post, she served, since 1993, as CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Hayden was nominated by President Obama to be a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board in January 2010 and was confirmed to that post by the Senate in June 2010. Prior to joining the Pratt Library, Dr. Hayden was deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library from 1991 to 1993. She was an assistant professor for library and information science at the University of Pittsburgh from 1987 to 1991. Dr. Hayden was 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. Dr. 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.
Host
Jacob Hodes
Head of Private Equity, Brown Advisory
Jacob is a partner, a member of the Executive Team and the head of private equity. Prior to joining the firm, he was an attorney in the Corporate Department at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, where he worked with both public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions, financing transactions, reorganizations and corporate governance. He also worked with private equity sponsors on acquisitions and fund structuring, as well as with non-profit organizations. Prior to his time at Skadden, Jacob worked as an analyst in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Background Reading
- The Post-Pandemic Future of Libraries, The Atlantic, May 12, 2020
- Enriching the Library Experience: The FY 2019-2023 Strategic Plan of the Library of Congress, October 2018
- The Librarian of Congress and the Greatness of Humility, The New Yorker, February 19, 2017
- Baltimore’s Library Stays Open During Unrest, American Libraries, May 1, 2015
