For several years I was an occasional advisor to the Library of Congress on Digital Strategy and I have tremendous re...
For several years I was an occasional advisor to the Library of Congress on Digital Strategy and I have tremendous respect for the way that institution works, and how it takes the long view about America. It was humbling to be connected to something so big, and I learned a ton."
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"Not a lot of people know about the actual functions of the Library of Congress—it isn't "just" our national library, the keeper of multiple classification systems, but also contains the U.S. Copyright Office and serves as a research service for Congress. There's a tunnel connecting it directly to the Capitol, which I always saw as a hopeful metaphor: A powerful, often fractious democracy, but coupled to the largest possible information store. Maybe one day we'd figure out how to really bring those two things together."
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"(Oddly, on January 6, it doesn't seem that any of the rioters decided to visit the Library of Congress, even though it was a short walk through the tunnel, and it's way more interesting than Congress and has, among other things, the contents of Lincoln's pockets upon his assassination.)"
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"I never met the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, although I saw her speak once or twice and was very impressed. President Trump just fired her rudely and summarily, and it really is a bleak moment to me, among many other competing bleak moments right now."
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"Dr. Hayden obviously motivated people to do good work, and left a lot of librarians feeling proud of their service. Because she served all of Congress with diligence, she had real bipartisan support and goodwill. She is a first in many ways—the first woman to lead the Library, the first Black person to lead the Library—but unusually for the office, she's a librarian, not a historian—someone truly focused on access to information. I can only imagine who will come next. Perhaps they'll just skip ahead, and name Grok, the AI bot."
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"Also: I'm paranoid, and I think reasonably so. This is a great institution that protects our commons and protects—and archives—our history. I don't exactly adore U.S. copyright law, but it is...law. And there are a lot of forces out there that would love to bend it and abuse it, whether to seek an exemption for AI spidering, or to extend it infinitely and cut off the public domain. The Library of Congress treasure chest for sale to the highest bidder is a horrific idea. Smash, grab."
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"As with so much going on right now, there's very little specific action to take. We call, we write letters, we go places or host things, but for right now it seems we have to ride out this travesty together. Later, I hope we can repair some of what is being destroyed. That will be expensive, and frustrating, but I hope we get the opportunity even so.