Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library, has redefined and modernized the mission of the Library of Congress: to engage, inspire and inform Congress and the American people with a universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity. She has prioritized efforts to make the Library and its unparalleled collections more accessible to the public, and she has enabled the American people to explore, discover and engage more with this treasure trove of America’s stories maintained by the Library of Congress, even if they never visit the Library’s buildings in and around Washington, D.C.