Carla Hayden elected new American Library Association president

Dr. Carla Hayden, executive director of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, was recently elected president of the American Library Assn. (ALA) for the 2003-04 term. She is the second Enoch Pratt librarian to helm the 126-year-old association.

Hayden, who will remain as head of the Pratt system, will become the president-elect in July 2002, and will assume the ALA one-year term presidency in July 2003.

As ALA president, Hayden will be the chief elected officer for the oldest and largest library organization in the world. ALA has a membership of more than 64,000 librarians, library trustees and library supporters. Its mission is to promote quality library and information services and public access to information.

Prior to going to Baltimore in 1993, Hayden served as First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Librarian of the Chicago Public Library. Currently she is an adjunct faculty member at the College of Library and Information Services at the University of Maryland at College Park.

A graduate of Roosevelt University in Chicago, Hayden earned her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Graduate Library School of the University of Chicago.