Carla Hayden wird heute 14. Librarian of Congress.
Hayden will be the first woman and the first African-American to lead the national library since its inception in 1800. She’s the longtime CEO of the library system in Baltimore. She’s also just the third professional librarian to get the job.
Wer neben diesen fünf Fakten über Carla Hayden noch etwas zum Erzählen für den nächsten Bibliotheksstammtisch benötigt: Sie leitete ab 1991 die Enoch Pratt Free Library, in der Tupac Shakur einige Jahre zuvor einen Jugend-Rap-Wettbewerb gewann.
Shakur and Smith’s winning performance opened with Shakur declaring, “Yo’ Enoch Pratt, bust this!” and urging Baltimoreans to get library cards. They told kids to stay in school, learn to read, and “get all the credits that you need.” (Shakur’s handwritten verses now reside in the Pratt’s Special Collections archive, alongside works by H.L. Mencken and Edgar Allan Poe.)