In conversation with ...

featuring Carla Hayden and Eric Klinenberg

Dr. Carla Hayden invites Professor of Sociology and author of Palaces of the People Eric Klinenberg to discuss the important and unique role that libraries provide to the community.  The session will include mapping accessibility and adapting to the changing needs of the library users in person and online.

Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress in September 2016. She is the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library. She was nominated to the position by President Barack Obama in February 2016 and her nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, July 2016.

Prior to her current post, she served as CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland. She was nominated by former President Obama to be a member of the National Museum and Library Services Board in January 2010 and was confirmed to that post by the Senate in June 2010. Prior to joining the Pratt Library, Hayden was deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library; an assistant professor for Library and Information Science at the University of Pittsburgh; and the library services coordinator for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. She began her career with the Chicago Public Library as the young adult services coordinator and as a children’s librarian.

Hayden was president of the American Library Association from 2003 to 2004. In 1995, she was the first African American to receive Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year Award in recognition of her outreach services at the Pratt Library, which included an after-school center for Baltimore teens offering homework assistance and college and career counseling. Hayden received a B.A. from Roosevelt University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago.

Eric Klinenberg is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. His most recent book is Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life, available now. The book argues that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, childcare centers, bookstores, churches, synagogues, and parks that help us form crucial, sometimes life-saving connections. These are places where people can gather and linger, strengthening personal ties and promoting interaction across group lines. They are vital parts of what he calls our “social infrastructure,” and they are necessary for rebuilding societies everywhere. Of all the articles written about Palaces for the People, Klinenberg's favorite was written by the Librarian of Congress in the Wall Street Journal. Carla Hayden called Palaces, “One of my favorite books of 2018," and exclaimed that "Klinenberg is echoing what librarians and library patrons have been saying for years: that libraries are equalizers and absolutely universal.” 

Klinenberg is also the coauthor, with Aziz Ansari, of the #1 New York Times bestseller Modern Romance, and author of the acclaimed books Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, and Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America’s Media. In addition to his scholarship, Klinenberg has contributed to The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, the London Review of Books, Wired, and This American Life.  Get details and add to your schedule.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden will host an ongoing series of discussions at ALA conferences with principals in the library field, thought-leaders, and icons.  Past guests have included former First Lady Michelle Obama and 10th Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero.