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Transcript

Carla Hayden · The David Rubenstein Show

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's led by Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress. She's
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: unique because she's the first woman to be library in Congress,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the first African American to be Library in Congress, and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: also one of the first librarians to be library in Congress.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I had a chance to sit down with her recently
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to hear her story and how she's trying to open
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: up the Library of Congress to all Americans. So why
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: does Congress need a library? Can't they just use the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: regular library other people have. Why do they need their
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: own library?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Well, Congress, and think about this. In eighteen hundred, a
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: new nation, a new legislative body, there was the thought
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: that they needed some reference books, and they were mainly
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: law books. The first books that were purchased about six
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: hundred books. And that's how the Library of Congress really started.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Think of the name the Library of Congress. So it
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: is a reference and research tool for Congress. And they
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: knew that because they have parliamentary libraries and they knew
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: about those types of things, so they knew that as
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: legislators they might have to refer.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Now in twenty twenty four. The Library of Congress is
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: much bigger than it was when we first started eighteen hundred.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: But is it really properly named the Library of Congress
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: now because it isn't more than just a library for
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: congressmen and women.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Well, it's evolved, and over time it evolved into not
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: only the reference tool for Congress. And there's still about
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: five hundred experts in just about every field that are
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: dedicated to being the researchers and nonpartisan experts for Congress.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: And that's still there, but the library has expanded to
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: serve the people that Congress serves.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: So now it is.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: The largest library in the world, with one hundred and
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: seventy eight million items, and it serves everyone.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: The only people who can actually check out materials in
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: the traditional sense are members of Congress and their staff members.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: But members of the public, the general public, can come
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: into the Library of Congress's facilities and use materials on site.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Let's suppose I am a person who wants to use
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the Library Congress for research and I need some books
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I want to take home to read them at home.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: I cannot do that if I'm a regular, you.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Could not do that.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: What you could do and what many libraries, public libraries,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: and university and college libraries throughout the United States and
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: even in some international facilities. The Library of Congress will
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: loan materials to another library and a patron could look
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: at the materials right there, but they couldn't take them home,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: but they could look at them in their own library.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Okay, so what does the Library Congress actually do?
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Now?
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: The Library and of Congress is basically the CEO of
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: the entire enterprise, and that includes the US Copyright Office.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: The Library of Congress in eighteen seventy became the administrative
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: operation and really the main manager of the US copyright system.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: That's also how the library collection grew because when you
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: register for copyright whatever it is, you are required to
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: deposit too copies of whatever it is now that could
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: be wallpaper, video games, but books. And when the Library
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: of Congress became the administrator of the copyright system, they
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: were able to then select from deposits and the collection
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: really grew.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: So we've had the Library of Congress who started in
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: eighteen hundred. Many women have been librarians of Congress before you.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: I'm their first female Library of Congress since eighteen oh two.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: So the library itself was established the law books in
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: eighteen hundred, and then in eighteen oh two there was
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: a thought, well, we need somebody to manage this, and
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: that's when the first Librarian of Congress was appointed.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: How many African Americans have been Library of Congress before you?
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: That's also me and so I'm a twofer in terms
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: of that. So there haven't been any people of color
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: or females, And it's interesting the most one of the
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: most unusual parts of being in the position is the
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: fact that I'm a female, because librarianship is one of
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: what they call the four feminized professions, where eighty five
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: to ninety percent of the people who work in the
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: institution are female, but the top management doesn't reflect that.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: So is there a library that's bigger than the Library
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: of Congress anywhere in the world? Does any country have
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: a bigger collection of books than the Library of Congress.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: We've just been designated in the Guinness Book of World
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Records as the largest library in the world, and our
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: closest competitor, and it's really not a competition, is the
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: British Library. That's the National Library of Great Britain, and
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: we have a friendly kind of rivalry, but in terms
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: of number of items, and we definitely are the largest.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: So you have more than books. You have regular books,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: you have comic books, you have maps, you have manuscripts, so.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Photographs, film, all types, any format.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you today, almost everything is digitized, it seems,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: so why do we really need libraries since you can
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: just go on a computer and get everything. Do you
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: really need to keep all these books? Why not just
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: digitize them and then say thank you?
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: There are so many items that have not been digitized
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: and might not ever be digitized. When you think about
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the diaries of Theodore Roosevelt. The Library Congress has the
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: papers of twenty three presidents from George Washington to Coolidge.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: There will still be analog materials that could be digitized,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: but will be in analog form and books. Even though
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: you can get things in digital form, there are still
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: people and there still will be an appetite for a
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: physical item. But the future is definitely digital, and so
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: libraries like the Library Congress, British Library, all libraries are
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: making sure that they have the infrastructure to be able
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: to get materials that are born digital. And so we
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: have quite a bit of materials that are coming in.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: They never are in analog form. They're coming straight in
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: digital film and we're able to circulate.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Them as we talk. Now, what do you think you
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: have done in your period of time eight years or
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: so to open up the library to the average citizen
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: more than was done before, specifically with respective children. What
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: have you done well?
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: We've started to be a card member to use the
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: eighteen reading rooms of the library.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: Cards will have to be sixteen. It's a card.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: It's a reader's card to give you access to the materials,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: to say that you're responsible in that even though you
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: can't check them out. It's to have a record of
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: who's coming in and to do that. What we've done, though,
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: is to expand the offerings that we have for young people.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: We have a Young People's Ambassador for Literature, We have
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: literacy programs.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: And you've been involved in.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Giving actual awards to literacy groups that help young people
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: learn how to read. And so the offerings that we
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: have for young people people have expanded greatly.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Literacy is a big problem in the United States. I
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: think fourteen percent of adults are functioning illiterate, which means
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: they can't read past the fourth grade. Level, that's a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: large percentage of the population. Nothing the Library of Congress
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: can do can completely solve that problem. But are you
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: surprised at how many people still cannot read in this country?
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: And how many people have another problem called illiteracy or
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: literacy which means they can read, but they don't choose
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: to read. They don't and is that a growing problem?
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: And that's it's a challenge with the digital age because
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: people are they're reading on tablet, so we do count
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: that as reading. If you have an ebook, you're reading
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: the book. And I've been often asked if I'm listening
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: to a book, are you reading?
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Does that count?
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: But there is a concern that the amount of reading
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: actual texts that people are doing is diminishing. And so
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: how do you work with other organizations? So the Library
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Congress connects to public library school libraries and we do
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: joint programming with them because there is an opportunity for
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: us to let people know and to make reading more interesting.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: So literacy is a challenge for sure, But in the
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: libraries around the country, our libraries being used more and
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: more because people can't afford to buy books, or are
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: they being used because it's a good place to gather
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: where it's quiet. Why don't we actually have all these
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: thousands of libraries anymore? When people are often doing things
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: digitally and they don't need to go to a physical
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: place to get a book.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: People are using public libraries as and someone is it
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: as opportunity centers. They use the high speed computers to
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: fill out job applications, to interact with government.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: They hold e government aspect.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: They are using libraries as places to register to vote, to.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: Vote and all types of things.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: And libraries are offering collections that are beyond books. So
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: libraries are circulating and responding to communities in so many ways.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: So let's talk a bit about your background, how you
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: became a librarian. So where were you born?
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: I was born on the campus of Florida A and
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: M University, historically Black college in Tallahassee, Florida.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: And were your parents' teachers there?
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: Yes, My father had been recruited to start the string
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: department at that school. He was a classically trained violinist
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: and string instruments and so he was there. And then
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: my mom was a pianist. She was as a companists
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: many times, and so they went down there.
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  Speaker 3: They'd never been to Florida.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: They had never been to a historically back college and
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: they were from Springfield, Illinois, my dad and Champagne or
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: my mom, so it was just a totally different experience
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: for them.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you how you got out of
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Florida because you were born there, you're raised there. But
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: then where did you go to college?
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Well, there was a little byway there.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: My dad got bitten by the Jazz Book and we
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: moved to New York City so we could pursue that
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: parents got divorced because my mom did not get bitten
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: by that book. So then we returned to their home
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: states of Illinois. So I ended up going to high
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: school and then college in Chicago.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: And you went to college ultimately.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Where Roosevelt University and University of Chicago.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Right, So you got a PhD in Library Sciences at
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: the University Coago. Yes, So are there many library schools anymore?
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Because I thought some of them, that one of the
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: U in Chicago no longer exists. But are there still
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: a lot of library schools around the United States?
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: They're about fifty six library schools, but now they're mainly
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: called information science schools, Schools of information science or information management.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: The University of Chicago school closed and the Columbia University
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: closed because their programs were deemed a little too academic.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: So after you got your PhD from the University of
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Chicago and library Sciences, what did you do well?
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: I went off to teach at the Library School and
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: University of Pittsburgh. And that school was really before its time.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: The dean there was Tony Carbel, really wanted to make
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: sure that there was a merger with information science computer science.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: She brought in technology companies and it was really an
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: innovative library school.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: And then did you go back to Chicago from there?
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: I went back, and I went back because one of
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: my students that I had sent off with all this
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: knowledge is power and go and work in these libraries
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: and help people and everything. He came back and said,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: I'm going to get a PhD and.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: I want to teach.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: And I said, but you were doing so well, I
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: thought at this big urban library, and he said, well,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: you told me to bring my ideas up. And I
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: saw the director of the library and I went up
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: to him and he I was trying to tell him
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: some of the things that I was interested in, and
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: he blew me off, and I thought, oh, okay, this
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: isn't and so I'm coming back to academ.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: So what did you do? You joined the Chicago.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Chicago Public Library and you rose up to be the
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: chief librarian. I went back to Chicago also did a
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: stint at the Museum of Science and Industry, and that
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: was really helpful because I worked more with the curators,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: but also opening up a public library in a museum.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: So we're in Chicago. You met two people. Did they
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: borrow a lot of books of Barack and Michelle Obama?
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Where they did they ever have overdue fines or anything?
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Well, we could never tell if they did. But what
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: happened was when I went back, the person that was
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: the administrator for the city of Chicago that had in
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: her portfolio the public library was Michelle Robinson, and I
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: got to know her because she was responsible as a
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: deputy mayor type of position. And then she got engaged
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: to this gentleman who had an interesting name. And I
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: was recruited to head up the Baltimore Library. And so
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: in that July I missed the wedding.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Oh whatever happened to him, he did well.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: It was so interesting too that years later I would
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: be sitting almost like this in the Oval Office being
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: interviewed by the President of the United States, because that's
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: the person who nominates the library to Congress.
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: And it's that.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: So you already knew them. But let's talk about Baltimore.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: You went to my hometown in Baltimore, where the library
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: system is called the inocaprat Free Library System, and you
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: became the head library and there for twenty two years.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: Twenty two years.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Hey, so you're the head library for twenty two years
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: in Baltimore. And then the President of the United States
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: has the responsibility to nominate for Senate confirmation the Library
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: of Congress. I went members of Congress nominate the Library
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: of Congress since it's a Congress thing.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Believe it started with Lincoln, and that it would be
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: a position that the President would nominate similar to a
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Supreme Court justice, and that it was that type of position,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: and so you still have to be confirmed by the Senate.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: And I went through that process.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: So you interviewed with President Obama and he said, do
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: you want to be Library of Congress? And I guess
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: you said you were interested.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: I was concerned about what I could bring to the
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: position because I had been so involved with public libraries
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: public access all of that career, but I never thought
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: of actually being part of the Library Congress because of
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: what the perception was that it was mainly for scholars.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: It was that, And so what President Obama asked me
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: was he started it out with telling me that he
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: had seen the contents of Abraham Lincoln's pockets the night
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: he was assassinated. He had seen the first the draft
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: reading copy of the Gettysburg Address at lincoln Ton. But
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: he said at the Library of Congress. But he said,
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: I think that's because of my position, And he said,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: what could you do with your background to open up
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: the Library of Congress to everyone? And that's what I
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: thought and said to him, I think I can do that.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: So the government of the United States pays for the
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Library of Congress. But do you take donations or you
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: do not interested in donations?
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Well, we have wonderful philanthropic support the James Madison Council.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: You've definitely have been the leader of that, and that's
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: the philanthropic arm of the library. And so there are
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: actual donations of cash that but also grants. The Mellon
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Foundation gave the library one of its largest grants ever
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: to work with communities about their histories. And also we
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: just started a friends group. The Library of Congress had
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: never had a friends group. And so at a certain
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: level you can be a friend of the Library of
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Congress and then people give actual collectictions and collection items,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: and that's truly wonderful because we wouldn't be able to
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: purchase some of the things that people have given us.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: So let me ask you about the library itself today.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: How many employees do you have?
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: Roughly thirty five hundred are They're not all librarians. Those
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: are the people that you have, copyright lawyers, all types
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: of people that work at the library.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Car Now very often when I've seen Library of Congress employees,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: I asked them how long they've been here, and they
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: sipicly say, oh, thirty five years. That's a long time.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: They say, no, somebody here is forty years. Somebody here
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: is forty five years. Why don't people stay so long
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: at the Library of Congress.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: They love it. One of the joys.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: It's like being in a university. They're like faculty members,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: and there are subject experts in whatever subject you have.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: The Library of Congress there collects in four hundred and
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: seventy languages. Half of the collection is in languages other
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: than English, and so the Middle Eastern division, you're going
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: to have experts from the region who are from the
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: region and speak.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: So today you've got thirty five hundred employees. Where do
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: you get your money from? To library finds? I assume
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: are not that big a part of your business.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: And this is where the accessibility for everyone comes into play,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: because eighty five to ninety percent of the library's operating
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: budget is from an appropriation from Congress, and that's taxpayer money.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: And so that's another reason why we're really just devoted
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: to making sure people know that this is their library too.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: So it was a joint committee on the Library.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: For the library budget goes through the appropriations committees on
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: both sides Senate and House, and then there are pol
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: committees that help with the direction of the library itself,
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: though budgeting gives you direction as well.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: What do you do when you're not being a library
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: in a Congress?
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: I always love to read, and so when I get
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: some spare time, I can look at old New Yorkers
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: and you know how they poll up. I could read
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: a mystery. I love mysteries and biographies.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: But you don't go to any bookstores because you don't
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: need to buy books too.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: You go to books to the Ivory Bookstore in Baltimore.
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: And it's funny because now people are watching what I'm buying,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: so you have to be careful.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: So as we talk, this weekend is the National Book
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Festival Weekend. This has been going off for about twenty
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: plus years or so. What actually happens at the National
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: Book Festival.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Oh, and it is a festival.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: It's a one day event with over ninety authors now
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: and it was started by first Lady Laura Bush, when
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: my predecessor, when she came to Washington, she had started
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: the Texas Book Festival. That's one of still one of
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: the largest book festivals in the country. And they started
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: it about twenty four years ago. And it when you
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: think about what we have for young people and what
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: we do for young people. There's an entire section that
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: is going to feature interactive activities and authors for young people.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: Famous authors that we all know, Doris Currents, Goodwin, James McBride,
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: James Patterson will be there. You'll be there, and it's
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: just heartening when you we've just talked about illiteracy, and
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: when you see all of these book lovers that are gathered,
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: thousands and thousands of people.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Who presidents of the United States have will come up
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and borrow a book, or they don't they're too busy
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: to do that. They don't call you and say do
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: you have this book or something.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: Well, we have had some good relations with the White
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: House in terms of putting books on display for certain things,
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: and we've been doing more of that recently.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: So what kind of books do you like to read?
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Are you non fiction.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: Or I mentioned mysteries.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: A big mystery fan because you feel some sense of satisfaction.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: With it.
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Someone usually gets killed, nobody cares, but and then it's solved.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: So that's very reassuring.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about the Library of Congress in the future.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Let's say ten, twenty thirty years from now. Do you
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: expect libraries like the Library Congress to be more relevant,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: less relevant, more technologically savvy, or about the same as now.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: They're going to be more technologically savvy, but they're also
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: going to be and we're seeing it now. Even though
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: there are some challenges in terms of what public libraries
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: and school libraries offer They're going to be even more relevant.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: Because there's still trusted source of.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Information and in the world of misinformation, who can you trust?
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: What are those trusted sources? Libraries are still going to
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: be places that people look to.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to hear more of my interviews. You
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: wherever you listen.