Carla Hayden confirmed as 14th librarian of Congress; Washington Post, 7/13/16

Peggy McGlone, Washington Post; Carla Hayden confirmed as 14th librarian of Congress:

"The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Carla D. Hayden — the chief executive of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Free Library — to be the 14th librarian of Congress. Hayden becomes the first woman and first African American to hold the post.

Lawmakers voted 74 to 18 to approve Hayden’s nomination. She succeeds James H. Billington, a Russia scholar and author who retired last September after 28 years.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) described Hayden, 63, as a transformational leader who is the perfect candidate for the job of modernizing the library, an agency with a $620 million budget and 3,200 employees.

“She’s proven herself to be a skilled manager of large complex projects. She moved the Enoch Pratt into the digital age,” Mikulski said. “Our nation will be well served by her confirmation.”

The vote came five weeks after the Senate Rules Committee unanimously voted to recommend Hayden to the full Senate. But the nomination stalled after conservative lawmakers raised concerns about positions she held 13 years ago, when she was president of the American Library Association."