Carla Hayden
Executive Director, Enoch Pratt Free Library (Baltimore)
American Library Association President, 2003-2004
You have to be at the table sometimes to be part of the solution . . . Don’t just stand outside and snipe and complain about what’s wrong. Get in there and do the work.
How did you get to your current position?
A lot of people have been very supportive and helpful. I had great mentors along the way. The opportunities presented themselves. And I was encouraged to try out for different positions and things like that, so it’s been-some people would say, I’ve been very blessed.
How did you start out?
I started out as a library associate right out of undergrad in Chicago. I got a position as a library associate at the Chicago Public Library. They paired with me early on with a lady who was going to library school in the University of Chicago-Judy Zelter, in fact. And I got intrigued about the idea of library school and the possibilities. And she encouraged me to apply, and I did, and I got in. So, I worked as a library associate and went to library school. That’s how I started. And I was a children’s librarian, then young adult librarian, young adult coordinator. Quite a bit of my early career was with the Chicago Public Library.
Then you moved here from there?
Actually, I left Chicago Public, started my PhD program, then got the position at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, finished that off. Then I went to the University of Pittsburgh to teach at the library school there. And then from there, I went back to Chicago, to Chicago Public Library to be-kind of a long title-First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Librarian. And then from there, I came to Baltimore.
How long have you been here?
I’ve been in Baltimore almost 15 years; it will be 15 years in July this coming year.
That’s a long time.
Well, not at the Pratt Library. The assistant to the Assistant Director is the longest-serving city employee in the city, and she’s been with the city and the Pratt Library for 56 years. The lady she’s working with just announced her retirement; she’s retiring after 42 years. And half of the staff members-we have 530 staff members at the Pratt Library-half of the staff members have over 25 years. So, in Pratt years, it’s not that long; 15 is not that long.
Briefly, how do you describe what you do as a librarian to people at a party?
Right now, my elevator speech is about the library itself because I’m involved in fundraising and getting a lot more private support. (We have quite a bit of public support). I manage public operations-the day to day operations of the library, as well as to garner support from the public sector, elected officials, and as well as the private sector, in terms of raising resources and actually creating friends. So I do both-external and internal relations.
Are you or have you been involved in library or other associations?
Most of my association affiliation has been with the American Library Association. I’ve been a member now, I think it’s 28 years. I joined when I was a library school student.
When did you first get involved in committees?
Shortly thereafter. I did a little bit as a student. I was a kind of intern to-I forgot the committee’s name. Then, as a children’s librarian, I was elected to the Newberry and Caldecott committees and things like that. And I was in ALSC-the Association for Library Services to Children-elected to their Board, and that was a good experience. A lot of the association experiences have really helped me in my career. For instance, the ALSC Board, I learned about working with boards and how boards work and all that type of thing. It was a really good experience.
Are you doing committee work right now?
Limited. I’m chairing a task force on library education. So think about where library education should go and how it fits in with the accreditation standards that ALA-ALA actually administers the standards and gives accreditation to library schools and information programs. They give accreditation to programs, not to schools.
And I am on the LSTA-Library Services and Technology Act-subcommittee for the ALA Washington Office.
Throughout your involvement with ALA, what experiences have been the most memorable or rewarding?
Well, I mentioned the ALSC Board and how that really taught me a lot. And then the ALA Presidency, and that was really a great experience on a lot of levels-personal growth, professional growth. And there was a lot of carryover into what I do here at the Pratt. It really enhanced that and just opened up and broadened my view. I got a chance to go and see library systems in other countries and things like that.
Did you have projects when you were ALA President?
ALA at the time had five basic values. They had one that hadn’t been fully explored-equity of access. So, I worked on making sure that that was completed, that the set of five core values were completed, and that equity of access became something that now, you hear that term quite a bit. So, I worked on making sure that that got more attention.
What or who influenced you to become a librarian?
I think it started out [with] love of reading…My family exposed me to books and reading. And my grandmother-paternal grandma-had a friend in Springfield, Illinois, where they lived, who worked for the State Library. And I didn’t realize it at the time, when I would visit in the summers, and I got to visit Ms. Pendergrass-she died a couple of years ago, and the Black Caucus of librarians did a nice feature on her-how unusual that was at that time to have a Black librarian working in a State Library. And she collected books about African Americans on her own for that. So, she would let me, when I came for the summer, come to the State Library. I didn’t even realize the significance of going to a State Library. I had my branch library in New York and stuff like that. So I was exposed to librarianship in a different way.
When I found out later in life, put the pieces together, and realized that you could get a degree, that this could be a profession, I thought, “Wow, this is really nice. Combines a lot of things that I like already.” Then I thought about going into public librarianship because I wanted to really-I came of age a lot in the late sixties, early seventies, so there was a lot of activism-and I thought of it as a way to, you know, give the opportunity to other people. That’s why I chose the public library aspect.
Tell us from your own experience one leadership lesson that you have learned.
One lesson I’ve learned is that, sometimes, you have to break the rules. You have to weigh when it’s appropriate to follow certain strictures that may have been set up for different reasons that aren’t appropriate or that aren’t useful anymore and when it’s time to change them or work in a different way. And that’s an important thing to do and, sometimes, it’s a difficult thing to do, but, as a leader, you have to learn to do that.
Did you learn that early on?
I’d say about midway.
How do you recognize contributions of others in your library and in your community?
Well, we have a number of ways. And one that is tied in to the way we do fundraising is that we’ve raised private funds to be able to fund staff awards. One award is like the Library’s Oscar, and it’s $1000 for the employee of the year and is called the Baker Award. And the other staff members decide who this person is gonna be, and it’s kept a secret until that meeting when it’s exposed. I get to call the person the night before and tell them to come, all that, and you read the accomplishments. So it’s really something.
Then we’ve also been able to raise other funds to start an employee recognition program where we give employee of the month for part-time even, all types of positions. And then we have employee of the year in those categories as well. And we have a mystery shopper award for branches and Central, unsung hero awards, a number of awards in addition to that. So that’s been very helpful. And we also make sure, whenever we have staff members who do things professionally, and even personally-one of our staff members is a children’s author-we recognize them at board meetings, and we make sure that our board members are aware. And we post it…on the website, to let the public know that our staff members are doing these kinds of things.
Do you have volunteers here?
We have about 200 volunteers, and we just hired a full-time volunteer coordinator, who is gonna be increasing that number, so that’s very helpful.
Do they get recognized?
Every year, we have a volunteer recognition luncheon-done with private funds. And we give out awards and we have a nice luncheon. It’s a really good affair. We have entertainment and things like that. It’s a way for the volunteers who sometimes work throughout the system-we have 21 branches and the Central Library-to get to see each other, too. So, they’re there with the staff members that they work with.
What values (personal traits or characteristics) do you look for and admire in a leader?
I guess one would be integrity. And also being able to take some complex issues and basically translate them for different audiences so that people can understand what’s going on. That’s not as easy to do. And also to have good relations with all of the staff members, whatever position they might be in. And to be able to generate that feeling of camaraderie.
What advice would you give to up and coming librarians?
Well, first, don’t give up. Librarianship is a very tradition-bound profession, and so you really need to do what they’ve suggested in other spheres of life; you have to be at the table sometimes to be part of the solution, to change something if you see what’s going on. So, volunteer for committees and be part of the activities of the organization. Don’t just stand outside and snipe and complain about what’s wrong. Get in there and do the work.
What do you think are the top three issues facing librarianship (positive or negative) that could change the course of things?
Well, one of the most obvious, of course, is technology and the changes in technology, changes in technology that affect how people interact with information and with each other and in society. Some people might view that as a negative, but actually it can really help transform what we do if we’re not afraid of it. So, I think that that’s got a lot of possibilities.
The second is economic challenges, and that’s because we’re just a part of larger economic issues in this world. And so, in different areas, you have to have strong advocacy for libraries at a time when libraries are changing. People don’t understand that, and they’re looking at the old librarians, think that’s not useful because we can all go and Google something. So, having that strong voice for libraries in these tough economic times would be another.
And then a third would be recruiting people to the profession at this time. How do we recruit them and retain them and get them interested in it? I think by opening up and saying, “Hey, you have a chance to help change something” would be an opportunity that might be appealing to some. We still have to fight for the salaries and things like that, but I think that will come when you prove the worth of something. Prove is a kind of laden word, but you have to-the public just isn’t aware.
Do you think that we should be changing the way librarianship is going?
Well, we have to change to be able to be relevant. I think we are changing. I think I see it’s happening. So, we just have to keep going with it and maybe speed it up a little. That might be a problem that we have right now, that we need to just accelerate it, just embrace it and just get on with it.
What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned in your current position?
I’ve learned a lot of things in this position. I think one of the most valuable things is that it’s great to have a chain of command but it’s also good to be able to have a circle, a connection that’s even stronger than a hierarchical structure that a lot of libraries and institutions and organizations are. It’s more important to operate within that circle than within that chain that’s so rigid.
What are the top three things they don’t teach you in library school that you think are critical?
They don’t teach you about dealing with other people; they don’t teach you enough management. That includes personnel issues; that includes so many things in terms of how libraries really operate in a lot of ways. The people factor involves people-the customers, as well as staff.
Another thing that isn’t really discussed is external relations-politics, government relations. Politics is not just elected officials but-in an academic setting, when you have to deal with campus politics-all these politics with a little p. That extends beyond your advocating for your library or your department or whatever; you need to know how to do that. So, that’s another area they don’t teach in library school.
The third thing they don’t teach you in library school is, I think, the fun part of it. It’s a great profession, and there are all kinds of interesting things that happen. It’s almost like Letterman’s top ten things that they don’t teach you in library school. The quirkiness of it-we don’t have much of an appreciation for in library school. I think we should celebrate that a little bit more.
What did they teach you that you did find useful?
I think, and I was fortunate in the library school that I went to, they taught us less about methods and how to do things and why we should do them. And so it was more about the philosophy of access, of getting information to people, the history of libraries and things like that. And I think that foundation translates no matter what you’re doing ‘cause you can learn library X’s way of cataloging or putting up something or whatever their particular things are that’s peculiar to that library, that situation, that country, whatever. But the general foundation is something that I found very useful.