Firing, hiring and a mystery: The 225-year-old Library of Congress has never had a moment like this

By HILLEL ITALIE Associated Press The Library of Congress a -year-old Washington institution has never had a moment like this A week ago the Trump administration fired the longtime librarian of Congress Carla Hayden The man appointed by President Donald Trump to be interim librarian Todd Blanche may not veritably be the interim librarian And Hayden s ouster may not even be legal FILE Todd Blanche attorney for then-President-elect Donald Trump departs court Jan in New York AP Photo Julia Demaree Nikhinson File Here s more about the library Hayden s ouster and the mystery of who s in charge now What is the Library of Congress The country s oldest federal cultural institution the Library of Congress was founded in under statute by President John Adams and has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan backing In addition to its billing as the largest library in the world it could also be called the country s unofficial memory bank It contains more than million books recordings images and other artifacts and offers a vast online archive and its contents span three buildings on Capitol Hill Each year the library s National Film Registry chooses movies showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage The National Recording Registry selects for preservation sound recordings that are culturally historically or aesthetically important and inform or reflect life in the United States The library also manages the nonpartisan Congressional Research Operation which responds to tens of thousands of requests from Congress each year Communications are confidential from disclosure under the speech or debate clause of the U S Constitution Library of Congress events include an annual book festival tours films exhibits and conferences The Library of Congress is not a traditional circulating library but is instead a research library No one under can get a reader card to access the collection Those and require a parent s permission What does the librarian of Congress do The librarian has a wide range of responsibilities from overseeing the Library of Congress collections to selecting the country s poet laureate to awarding the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction Librarians serve -year terms and Hayden s was scheduled to end in Her predecessors include James Billington Daniel Boorstin and Archibald MacLeish Who was fired Who was hired Late last week the Trump administration abruptly fired Hayden the first Black person and the first woman to hold the position Hayden nominated by President Barack Obama in and established - by the Republican-led Senate the following year was informed via email that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective promptly Thank you for your arrangement Related Articles Senate rejects Democratic measure to force more transparency on deportations to El Salvador Homeland Assurance looks to buy a new M jet for secretary and Coast Guard representatives Smart politics or a publicity stunt The man behind the latest effort to impeach Donald Trump FACT FOCUS Trump blames other countries for high US drug prices Experts say it s not their fault Americans are divided over DEI programs on college campuses poll finds More upheavals expeditiously followed The White House fired U S Copyright Office head Shira Perlmutter whom Hayden had appointed in The Justice Department then broadcasted that Blanche the deputy attorney general had been named acting librarian of Congress and that Paul Perkins an associate deputy attorney general and veteran Justice Department attorney was acting director of the Copyright Office Blanche was a member of Trump s defense band in his New York hush money trial which ended last year in a conviction on felony counts Why was Hayden fired The White House cited no specific reason in its email to her although Trump has been purging bureaucrats he believes opposed to him and his policies The conservative American Accountability Foundation had alleged she was promoting children s books with radical content and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that she was putting inappropriate books in the library for children A copy of virtually every book published in the U S during a given year is given to the Copyright Office with the Library of Congress deciding whether to include it in the main collection Hayden s firing was denounced by Democrats librarians educators and others including the outgoing U S poet laureate Ada Lim n Appointed by Hayden in Lim n called her the kindest brightest most of generous Librarian of Congress we could have hoped for as a nation Did the White House have the legal right to fire her Despite being nominated by the president the librarian of Congress is a legislative branch employee and appoints leaders to other positions under it such as the assistant librarian and the director of the Copyright Office That s why a dispute between Congress and the White House has erupted as Republican leaders sort out how much authority the president the head of the executive branch has in tapping an acting librarian Usually if that position is vacant an interim librarian is chosen from the current ranks of the Library of Congress Who is in charge right now Although Blanche was revealed as acting librarian he has yet to turn up at the Library of Congress offices according to a person with knowledge of internal operations The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity The library is at this time being run by Robert Randolph Newlen the person says Newlen had been principal deputy librarian and per library regulations was in line to succeed the librarian of Congress in matter of absence or temporary unavailability Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this description from Washington