​Obama's Pick For Librarian of Congress Is an Open Access Champion - Motherboard

"President Obama has tapped Dr. Carla Hayden to be the next Librarian of Congress. She's a tech-savvy, open access champion who supporters say could help bring the nation's largest and most important library into the digital age.

Libraries are crucially important institutions in a democracy, not merely as repositories for society's accumulated body of knowledge, but more importantly as vital community hubs—at once both symbolic and practical—where the citizenry has open access to that knowledge.

As one of the most prominent librarians in the United States, Hayden has spent much of her career working to close the digital divide, and to expand access to information—a fact highlighted by Obama in a statement on Wednesday.

'Dr. Hayden has devoted her career to modernizing libraries so that everyone can participate in today's digital culture,' said Obama, who first met Hayden decades ago when she worked at the Chicago Public Library, where she would eventually become Deputy Commissioner and Chief Librarian."