Dr. Carla Hayden, the groundbreaking former Librarian of Congress who was abruptly fired by President Donald Trump earlier this year, has landed at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as a senior fellow, where she will focus on strengthening the nation's public knowledge ecosystem.
Dr. Carla Hayden
"For generations, libraries, archives, and cultural institutions have been the guardians of knowledge and the catalysts for human progress," said Hayden. "At a time when equitable access to information and the free exchange of ideas face significant challenges, I am honored to join the Mellon Foundation as a senior fellow."
Hayden's transition to the Mellon Foundation follows her controversial dismissal from the Library of Congress in May 2025. Trump fired Hayden via a terse, two-sentence email that read: "On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service."
The firing was unprecedented - only two other Librarians of Congress had been replaced by incoming presidents in the institution's history, with Andrew Jackson replacing George Watterston in 1829 and Abraham Lincoln replacing John Silva Meehan in 1861.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the decision, citing "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." The administration's criticism focused on Hayden's diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and her efforts to make the library's collections more representative of America's diverse communities.
Hayden's nearly five-decade career in library science has been marked by efforts to democratize access to information. As the 14th Librarian of Congress from 2016 to 2025, she became the first woman and first African American to hold the position.
