President Donald Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden on May 9. Since then, he’s announced that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will assume the role of acting librarian of Congress.
Trump’s ultimate decision of whom to appoint as the librarian of Congress is of more consequence than people might think.
The classic image of a librarian as someone whose only job is to assist young students in an old, quiet building does not apply to the librarian of Congress. The Copyright Office is housed in the Library of Congress, and thus the librarian of Congress has administrative power over the head of the copyright, known as the Registrar of Copyright. Thus, the librarian of Congress has considerable sway over copyright policy in the United States.
In the Founding Era, the protection of copyrights (and patents) formed a key part of American exceptionalism….
