A Brief History of Banned Books in America; Smithsonian Magazine, October 5, 2023

 Chris Klimek , Smithsonian Magazine; A Brief History of Banned Books in America

"Klimek: And one of the professions most affected by all of this are librarians. How is this affecting librarians across the country?

Hayden: Well, librarians, we have mugs and T-shirts that say, “Librarians, the original search engines.” So we’ve been involved with information and the internet since it’s really been widely available, because that was another way for us to provide information to people, health information, all types of things. And so librarians have been at the forefront of looking at: What are some of the safeguards? How can we be better prepared to be those guides on the side when they’re surfing? People still use public libraries, for instance, as one of their major sources of health information.

Klimek: Yeah, that’s something that I hadn’t thought of, this idea that yes, now anyone with internet access has access to all of this information of widely varying quality. But the librarians can still help us sort the legitimate stuff from the cynical and fabricated stuff. That media literacy seems critical.

Hayden: “Information literacy” is the term that we use, and it’s really that same thing, but also in this new world. And that’s going to be even more of an aspect when you think about artificial intelligence."

Listening Session on Appointment of Next Register of Copyrights; The Library of Congress, January 2020

The Library of Congress 

"Listening Session on Appointment of Next Register of Copyrights

At 10:00 AM on Tuesday at the Library of Congress, Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE, Mumford Room (LM-649), Washington, D.C. 20540.

On January 5, Maria Strong’s tenure as Acting Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office began a few weeks after her appointment by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. This event will be the first of two listening sessions hosted by the Library of Congress this week to explore the appointment of the next Register of Copyrights to take over the position full-time after Karyn Temple stepped away from the Copyright Office in December. The session will feature a briefing from Librarian Hayden and Copyright Office staff on the selection process and will include time for comments and questions from attendees."

Maria Strong Appointed Acting Register of Copyrights; Publishers Weekly, December 18, 2019

Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly; Maria Strong Appointed Acting Register of Copyrights

"Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden has appointed Maria Strong as acting register of Copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office, succeeding register of Copyrights Karyn Temple, who announced last week that she will be leaving the Copyright Office to accept a new position as the global general counsel of the Motion Picture Association. Strong's appointment will begin January 5, 2020.

Strong has served as associate register of Copyrights and director of Policy and International Affairs since April 23, 2019. She joined the Copyright Office in 2010, and prior to that spent 19 years in private practice in Washington, DC, representing clients from the media, technology, and entertainment sectors. She began her legal career as a staff attorney at the Federal Communications Commission."

 

'The Fight of Our Generation'; Inside Higher ed, March 27, 2017

Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed;

'The Fight of Our Generation'

"The budget cuts loomed over the conference. Keith Michael Fiels, executive director of the ALA, said the budget shows the administration is cutting library funding to upgrade the country’s nuclear arsenal -- a reference to the proposed increase in defense spending.

“The scary thing is that this could actually happen if no one does anything,” Fiels said. “Only a small band of brave individuals stand between this insanity and reality. Who are these brave heroes? They’re us.”

He, like other speakers, implored attendees to call their representatives. “This is the fight of our generation,” he said.

Author Roxane Gay devoted 15 minutes of her Thursday keynote to reflect on life in the “age of American disgrace,” a talk she has given in the months following last year’s presidential election.

“We’re at a really unexpected time where we have to defend factual information and the research that supports this information, and what’s shocking is that this kind of thing is under attack from the executive branch,” Gay said.

Carla D. Hayden, who was confirmed to a 10-year term as librarian of Congress in July, steered clear of politics in her closing keynote. She dodged a question about copyright law and did not address the proposed budget cuts except to say that the Library of Congress is “working on being America’s library, and that can’t be denied.”"

THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS AND THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY; New Yorker, February 19, 2017

Sarah Larson, New Yorker; 

THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS AND THE GREATNESS OF HUMILITY

"The new Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, is highly motivated to make this library, and all libraries, a favorite object of the people. Hayden is the first person of color, and the first woman, to lead the Library of Congress; she is also the first actual librarian to lead it since 1974. Her predecessor, Dr. James Billington, a distinguished Russia scholar appointed by Ronald Reagan, was beloved for his intellect but criticized for mismanagement; he neglected, for many years, to appoint a chief information officer, which was required by law, and he also didn’t use e-mail. Hayden, a former head of the American Library Association, revitalized and modernized Baltimore’s twenty-two-branch Enoch Pratt Free Library system. President Obama nominated her, in 2010, to be a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board, and, last year, to become Librarian of Congress...

Like many librarians, Hayden is a big believer in the rights of all people to educate themselves, and in the importance of open access to information online. (This inclusive spirit has become more urgent nationally in recent weeks: see “Libraries Are for Everyone,” a multilingual meme and poster campaign, created by a Nebraska librarian, Rebecca McCorkindale, to counter the forces of fake news and fearmongering.) In September, Hayden gave a swearing-in speech in which she described how black Americans “were once punished with lashes and worse for learning to read.” She said that, “as a descendent of people who were denied the right to read, to now have the opportunity to serve and lead the institution that is our national symbol of knowledge is a historic moment.”...

I thought of the drafts of Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address that a curator in the Inaugurations exhibit had shown me. Lincoln had originally ended his speech with a challenge to the South: “Shall it be peace or sword?” William Henry Seward had suggested an edit that pushed Lincoln toward a more conciliatory tone, and the phrase “guardian angel of the nation.” Lincoln turned that into the sublime “better angels of our nature,” an appeal to our common humanity. Our greatest President was also, possibly, our greatest reviser—a cutter and paster who questioned his imperfect ideas, accepted input, made them better, and kept all of his drafts, so that history could learn not just from his speeches but from the workings of his mind. The contents of the library, like Hayden herself, often directed my attention to the systems by which progress is made and recorded."

Library of Congress and U.S. Copyright Office Roundup; Information Today, 1/10/17

Corilee Christou, Information Today; Library of Congress and U.S. Copyright Office Roundup

"Copyright Office Struggles

The overall picture at the LC certainly seems rosy. However, the U.S. Copyright Office is a different story. The office, led by then Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante, was attempting to fix its problems in 2016, but with its budget and IT systems both dependent on the LC, this was not a simple task. After only a month as the Librarian of Congress, Hayden removed Pallante from her position. She had been Register of Copyrights since 2011, after holding several positions at the Copyright Office since 2008. Never before has a Register of Copyrights been removed from his or her post by the Librarian of Congress.

Instead of taking the alternative position of senior advisor to the Librarian of Congress that Hayden offered her, Pallante resigned, effective Oct. 29. Reactions were both positive and negative."

Librarian of Congress Seeks Input on Register of Copyrights; Press Release, Library of Congress, DECEMBER 16, 2016 (REVISED JANUARY 11, 2017)

"DECEMBER 16, 2016 (REVISED JANUARY 11, 2017)Librarian of Congress Seeks Input on Register of Copyrights

Press Contact: Gayle Osterberg (202) 707-0020
Website: Librarian of Congress Seeks Input on Register of Copyrights (Survey) External

The public will have the opportunity to provide input to the Library of Congress on expertise needed by the Register of Copyrights, the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, announced today.

Beginning today, December 16, an online survey is open to the public. The survey will be posted through Jan. 31, 2017.

Link to survey: https://www.research.net/r/RegisterOfCopyrightsNR External
Deadline for submitting comments: Jan. 31, 2017

Input will be reviewed and will inform development of knowledge, skills and abilities requirements for the position.

Information provided through the survey will be posted online and submitters’ names will appear. Note that input will be subject to review and input may not be posted that is off-topic; contains vulgar, offensive, racist, threatening or harassing content; personal information; or gratuitous links to sites that could be considered spam. The Library’s complete comment policy can be viewed here: loc.gov/legal/comment-and-posting-policy/.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States—and extensive materials from around the world—both on site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov, and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov."

Congressional panel calls for independent Copyright Office; Washington Post, 12/9/16

Peggy McGlone, Washington Post; Congressional panel calls for independent Copyright Office:

"Federal lawmakers are calling for an independent Copyright Office that would be led by a Register nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday released the first in what is expected to be a series of reforms. They suggest keeping a newly independent office in the Legislative branch, and funding technology upgrades including a searchable, digital database of historical and current copyright ownership.

Coming on the heels of the resignation of Copyright Register Maria Pallante, and previous suggestions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, the proposals set up a show-down between Congress and new librarian Carla D. Hayden over the future of the agency."

Murder (or not) at the Library of Congress?; Washington Post, 10/31/16

David Post, Washington Post; Murder (or not) at the Library of Congress? :

"In any complex organization, it’s crucial for senior management to be unified in their understanding of the organization’s mission and how that mission can best be accomplished. It seems fairly basic that any new leader is entitled to expect, at a minimum, that all of the members of her management team actually want to be part of the organization — that they see a future for themselves and their staffs in the organization. In the academic world, where I spend most of my time, everyone expects a new university president to make major, senior-level personnel changes when he or she takes the helm. Sometimes those changes come quickly — as when there is a sharp divergence of views on a matter central to the shape and identity of the institution. Sometimes they come more slowly, as time reveals more subtle conflicts or incongruities between a given administrator’s approach to his or her job and the new president’s vision for the future of the institution. Always, however, personnel changes come. They’re a normal and healthy part of institutional evolution, even if they produce some short-term disorientation.

We’ll likely never know the details of Pallante’s departure from her job. I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that the logical explanation is probably the actual one."

Conspiracy Theories Run Amok Over Copyright Office Executive Changes; Techdirt, 11/2/16

Mike Masnick, Techdirt; Conspiracy Theories Run Amok Over Copyright Office Executive Changes:

"...[S]ome folks who support ever more draconian copyright immediately jumped on all sorts of conspiracy theories about how this was really Google somehow firing Pallante, including one site that directly had that as a headline.

To anyone who actually had knowledge of what was going on, this made no sense. Hayden is not connected to Google in any way. This is just out and out tinfoil hat conspiracy theory territory from people who see "Google" behind any policy they dislike. It seemed rather obvious that, like just about any new CEO of an organization, Hayden was clearing out some senior staff for a variety of reasons. And there was a pretty obvious big reason why Hayden would like to reassign Pallante: she has been directly and publicly advocating for Congress to move the Copyright Office outside of the Library of Congress. If you came in to run an organization and one of your direct reports was going over your head to try to transfer an entire division somewhere else, it's likely you'd fire that person too. It's kind of a management 101 thing.

Over the past week, in talking to a few people at the Library of Congress, or close to it, this is the basic story that came out. Hayden didn't feel comfortable with Pallante publicly advocating against the Library of Congress, and used her role as the boss to remove her from that position. Others seem to be discovering the same thing. A report at Publisher's Weekly notes that the conspiracy theories are bunk:"

A Copyright Coup in Washington; Wall Street Journal, 11/2/16

Wall Street Journal; A Copyright Coup in Washington:

"Ms. Hayden is now looking for a copyright office successor, and don’t be surprised if she chooses someone whose experience includes time at Google. This is reason enough for Congress to take a look: If the position is open to political influence, then the register should be politically accountable—and report to elected officials, not the nation’s librarian.

Perhaps these are all coincidences and Ms. Hayden merely botched a personnel dispute. But she now has an opening to install a register friendly to Google, and anyone tempted to write off the Pallante dispute as bureaucratic squabbling should remember: The company’s goal is to defenestrate laws that protect property. The guarantee to own what you create is the reason entrepreneurs take the risks that power the economy—a reason guys like Larry Page and Sergey Brin start Google."

Change at the Copyright Office; Publishers Weekly, 10/28/16

Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly; Change at the Copyright Office:

"Could Pallante’s departure spur Congress to finally appropriate sufficient resources to modernize the Copyright Office, which virtually everyone agrees is badly needed and long overdue? Hayden herself said she intends to build on the work Pallante did in terms of modernizing the Copyright Office for the digital age.

Or, might Pallante’s removal push Congress to consider removing the office from the Library of Congress altogether? Pallante was certainly held in high esteem by lawmakers. But sources expressed doubt that in the current political climate Congress would seek to create a new federal bureaucracy for copyright—which is the domain of Congress—that would be headed by a presidential appointee.

At the very least, ALA’s Sheketoff observed that Pallante’s removal suggests that the future of the U.S. Copyright Office is a high priority for at least one government official—Carla Hayden."

Maria Pallante's Departure From the Copyright Office: What It Means, And Why It Matters; Billboard, 10/25/16

Robert Levine, Billboard; Maria Pallante's Departure From the Copyright Office: What It Means, And Why It Matters:

"Days after U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante was moved out of her job, music business lawyers and lobbyists are still trying to figure out what happened, as well as what it means for the future. While Pallante had no lawmaking power, she was the country’s top copyright official, and her sudden removal could suggest a more skeptical view of the value of intellectual property in Washington DC.

“People I know who care about copyright are very disturbed,” says Marybeth Peters, Pallante’s predecessor as Register, who held the job from 1994 to 2010. “Nothing like this has ever happened there before.”...

On Friday, October 21, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who took office in mid-September, said that Pallante had been appointed as a senior advisor for digital strategy, and that Karyn Temple Claggett, currently an associate register of copyrights, would become acting register. But Pallante wasn’t told about the appointment before it was announced, according to several sources, and she never accepted it. She was locked out of the Library of Congress computer system, a step that several former Copyright Office staffers say is extremely unusual. (The Library of Congress did not comment and attempts to reach Pallante were unsuccessful.) Pallante submitted her resignation On Monday, October 24."