[LIS-Forum] ISAACSON PASSES ON LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS POST

[Ragaavendra R]

ISAACSON PASSES ON LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS POST

People close to the White House approached Walter Isaacson, author of the celebrated biography of late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, about serving as the next Librarian of Congress, but Isaacson took himself out of the running, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute in Washington, was perhaps the highest-profile name circulating as a possible replacement for James Billington, who plans to retire from the Library of Congress after 28 years at the helm. The institution, which manages a vast national collection of some 160 million works, has developed a reputation for digital backwardness, and librarians and tech advocates have urged the White House to pick someone capable of being a modernizing force. Isaacson declined to comment.

..Other names still under consideration include University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann; John Palfrey, the head of school at Phillips Academy and the former head of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society; former American Library Association President Carla Hayden; Susan Hildreth, former director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency; and Deborah Jacobs, director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Libraries Initiative, according to multiple sources. Also in the mix are Archivist of the United States David Ferriero and Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive.

Palfrey said he was surprised to hear his name was being floated and called the Librarian of Congress post "one of the greatest jobs in the universe," but declined to comment further on the search. Hildreth said that she had not been contacted by the White House, and Ferriero declined to comment. Other names on the list did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Billington, a Reagan appointee, announced in June that he would be leaving the job at the start of 2016, giving President Barack Obama an opportunity to hire someone to usher the Library of Congress into the Internet era. The Library has, under Billington, struggled to meet its technology needs, such as digitizing the nation's cultural archives and supporting the U.S. Copyright Office, which is housed at the Library and is at the center of debates between the tech and entertainment industries about digital content.

The White House didn't immediately comment. Asked about the search last week, a spokesperson last week declined to comment on personnel matters.

Isaacson, who formerly served as chairman and CEO of CNN and editor of Time magazine in addition to writing numerous books, is seen as popular in Washington and someone who could survive a political process; the Librarian of Congress post requires Senate confirmation.

According to a source familiar with the process, the White House is hunting for someone to fill the position that meets a varied set of criteria: The person should be something of a public intellectual with a scholarly bent, know how to manage a sprawling institution, and have an understanding of the complexities of both copyright policy and public access to information in the digital age.


REFLINK: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/walter-isaacson-no-librarian-of-congress-213629

Best Regards,
Raghvendra R

The information contained in this electronic message and in any attachments to this message is confidential, legally privileged and intended only for use by the person or entity to which this electronic message is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, and have received this message in error, please notify the sender and system manager by return email and delete the message and its attachments and also you are hereby notified that any distribution, copying, review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this electronic transmission or the information contained in it is strictly prohibited. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and may not represent those of the Company or bind the Company. Any commitments made over e-mail are not financially binding on the company unless accompanied or followed by a valid purchase order. This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Mail Scanner, and is believed to be clean. The Company accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email.
www.jubl.com

-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/pipermail/lis-forum/attachments/20150915/4288c861/attachment.html>