[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
OVERSIGHT OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS' STRATEGIC PLAN
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE
ADMINISTRATION
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JULY 26, 2017
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available on the Internet:
http://www.govinfo.gov/congress/
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
29-519 WASHINGTON : 2018
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing
Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800;
DC area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2104 Mail: Stop IDCC,
Washington, DC 20402-0001
Committee on House Administration
GREGG HARPER, Mississippi, Chairman
RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois, Vice ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania,
Chairman Ranking Member
BARBARA COMSTOCK, Virginia ZOE LOFGREN, California
MARK WALKER, North Carolina JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland
ADRIAN SMITH, Nebraska
BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia
OVERSIGHT OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS' STRATEGIC PLAN
----------
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017
House of Representatives,
Committee on House Administration,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:01 a.m., in Room
1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Gregg Harper
[Chairman of the Committee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Harper, Davis, Walker, Smith,
Loudermilk, and Brady.
Staff Present: Sean Moran, Staff Director; Kim Betz, Deputy
Staff Director/Policy and Oversight; Cole Felder, Deputy
General Counsel; Rob Taggart, Legislative Clerk; Matt Field,
Professional Staff; Erin McCracken, Communications Director;
Jamie Fleet, Minority Staff Director; and Khalil Abboud,
Minority Deputy Staff Director.
The Chairman. I now call to order the Committee on House
Administration for purposes of today's hearing, examining the
future of the Library of Congress. The hearing record will
remain open for 5 legislative days so Members may submit any
materials they wish to be included. A quorum is present so we
may proceed.
First, I would like to thank our witness for taking time
out of her very busy schedule to be with us today. In 1896, the
Joint Committee on the Library held a series of hearings to
discuss the future direction of the Library of Congress.
Historically housed in the U.S. Capitol, the Library's new
Jefferson Building was nearing completion, and Members desire
to learn what the Librarian at the time, Mr. Ainsworth Rand
Spofford, envisioned for the Library.
Dr. Hayden, you have been at the Library for a year now. It
is hard to believe that it has gone by this fast. It is only
appropriate that we now discuss with you your vision for the
Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress' current strategic plan entitled
``Fiscal Year 2016 through Fiscal Year 2020, Serving the
Congress and the Nation,'' was drafted as you were coming
onboard. There is some concern that this document is a
placeholder, as there is an initiative underway under your
leadership to which the Library is identifying and implementing
a new set of priorities.
It is our understanding the Library's resources will be
aligned around these new priorities. So it is a bit unclear
what role these priorities will play in respect to the current
strategic plan and whether it will replace, supplement, or
simply add to the current plan. If these new priorities are
intended to leave you in the Library, the Committee will want
to ensure that benchmarks and measurements are now in place to
measure that progress.
As Librarian, you have been charged with a great task. The
Library of Congress serves as the largest library in the world,
maintaining more than 164 million items in its collection. It
houses the Copyright Office, which registered more than 414
copyright claims in Fiscal Year 2016.
The Library is also home to the National Library Service
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, which according to
the Library, in Fiscal Year 2016 provided an amazing 22 million
copies of braille and recorded books and magazines to more than
800,000 individuals. These are just a few of the Library's
vital roles and the constituencies that you and the Library
serve.
We all appreciate the historic accomplishments and the
mission of the Library of Congress, and seek its very best as a
steward of the hard earned taxpayer dollars, as it serves
Congress and the American people in the decades to come.
Dr. Hayden, I want to thank you for returning to us today.
I know you testified briefly before this Committee in February
and again last month on the Library's IT challenges. I believe
the Library is at a critical juncture. We must ensure that the
Library remains true to its core mission, while recognizing the
demands of the 21st century. It is a difficult balance, but I
am confident that you are up to the challenge and that this can
be done. And I look forward to hearing from you on these
efforts.
I would now like to recognize my colleague and the Ranking
Member of this Committee, Mr. Brady, for the purpose of
providing an opening statement.
Mr. Brady.
Mr. Brady. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And I want to thank Chairman Harper for calling this
hearing today, and thank Dr. Hayden for appearing before us.
Dr. Hayden has made great strides in improving Library
operations in her short tenure as the Librarian of Congress.
From her progress in improving Library-wide technology
infrastructure and the ongoing modernization of the Copyright
Office, the Library is a better place today than it was a year
ago, and we have Dr. Hayden to thank for that.
Today, I look forward to hearing from Dr. Hayden about how
the Library plans to continue improving its operations and its
service to Congress through the strategic planning process.
One of the Library's core mission of fostering
relationships with local libraries is near and dear to my
heart. The Free Library of Philadelphia system enjoys a close
and productive relationship with the Library of Congress, and I
hope that we can arrange our visit to the Darby Public Library,
which is the oldest library in the Nation for some point in the
fall.
I will have a longer statement for the record, but for now,
I look forward to Dr. Hayden's testimony and assisting the
Library of Congress in any way I can to ensure that our
Nation's treasures can serve generations for years to come.
And I yield back.
The Chairman. The gentleman yields back. Thank you, Mr.
Brady.
Any other Member wish to be recognized for the purposes of
an opening statement?
Seeing none, I will now introduce our witness, no stranger
to this Committee, and always welcome, and enjoy having you
back.
Dr. Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of
Congress on September 14, 2016. Her appointment to this
position also marked the first time our Nation's Library has
been led by a woman and an African American.
Dr. Hayden is a librarian's librarian. Dedicating her
entire career to pursuing the accessibility of libraries in
communities.
In her brief time leading the Library, Dr. Hayden has
demonstrated her commitment to continuing the tradition of
collecting, preserving, and making available a vast collection
of educational resources, and protecting these collections for
future generations. It is no easy task, but we greatly
appreciate your initiatives and your service, and we look
forward to hearing from you today.
And the Committee welcomes you, Dr. Hayden. And we now
recognize you for the purposes of an opening statement for 5
minutes.
STATEMENT OF HON. DR. CARLA D. HAYDEN, LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
Ms. Hayden. Thank you. And good morning, Chairman Harper,
Ranking Member Brady, and Members of the Committee. And thank
you for inviting me to provide testimony on strategic planning
at the Library of Congress.
I first want to thank this Committee for its continued
support and the interest you have shown in your Library.
Congress created this agency 217 years ago, providing in one
place an enduring legacy of knowledge and cultural heritage for
Members of Congress and the American people. And I am proud to
continue that legacy today as Librarian. Nearly 1 year into my
tenure, I continue to be inspired by the institution and the
commitment of its staff.
It is a dynamic time for the Library of Congress, and we
are poised for modernization and innovation. I have laid out a
vision to expand access to our many resources so that treasures
and services are more readily available online for users who
cannot visit Washington, D.C. Everyone, we hope, will have a
sense of ownership and pride in this national treasure.
As I testified earlier this year, we are moving forward to
develop a comprehensive digital strategy as we rethink the use
of technology to fulfill our mission. The digital strategy will
support and be informed by Library-wide strategic planning.
Achieving this vision means strengthening fundamentals, the
most important of which is strategic planning. My approach is
informed by my many years of professional experience, leading
results-oriented institutions as an executive, a board member
and even as an instructor in graduate library school programs.
The Library's current strategic plan drafted in October of
2015, echos previous plans in defining a 5-year framework for
our operations. Unlike its predecessors, though, the plan was
created to be a living document, serving as a valuable baseline
for additional strategic planning, and I am happy to share that
new work is underway.
While the central tenets of our service mission do not and
will not change, our approach must change over time. The
Library requires a strategic plan that is dynamic, forward
looking, and reinforced with measurable outcomes. It must also
increase coordination across the Library's service units, while
still supporting mission-specific goals of each unit.
Ultimately, the new strategic plan will be completed at the
end of Fiscal Year 2018, and the new plan will put forward the
vision for the Library's future and set a structure needed to
achieve that future. And this is a top priority.
As such, I have elevated the Library's strategic planning
office in our organizational structure. The director of that
office, Dianne Houghton, now reports directly to me.
In charting a path for long-term future success, we are
examining improvements more broadly in our planning processes.
For example, we are strengthening our approach to internal
controls and risk management to anticipate and, hopefully, head
off coming challenges.
And in addition, the Library has made good progress to
improve performance management with the launch of a system in
late 2016 to track accomplishments mapped to the current
strategic plan. And we are now in the first stages of a new
strategic planning initiative to determine the Library's vision
and priorities going forward and then to redevelop the
strategic plan as a roadmap. We call this work Envisioning
2025. The Library is moving rapidly to complete the envisioning
work and we are exploring trends in our environment and
gathering internal and external input, among other components.
I look forward to sharing this work with you and your
staff, and sharing what we are learning. And I seek your
guidance in determining our direction. The feedback we receive
from Congress will be a central part of our progress and will
help ensure that we are responsive to your priorities.
In closing, the Library is well on the way to providing a
roadmap for the future. And I thank you for providing me the
opportunity to testify on this important topic, strategic
planning, and I am happy to take your questions.
[The statement of Ms. Hayden follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Thank you, Dr. Hayden.
And I will now recognize myself for 5 minutes for the
purposes of asking you some questions on this.
What is the--I am trying to obviously figure out the
strategic plan that was for Fiscal Year 2016 through 2020, and
now your plan, Envisioning 2025. How do those work together?
Explain that to me a little better.
Ms. Hayden. The Library's current strategic plan for 2016
to 2020 outlines and reinforces the Library's commitment to its
core mission, to serve Congress and the American people. And it
included seven strategies that are really directed to giving
guidance to the action plans that the Library has been working
with and we are measuring right now. For instance, using
technology as a tool, enhancing the skills of our staff
members. And what the work that is being done now will help us
do is to reenvision and revamp some of those basic strategies
with some information that we are gathering, including more
input from Congress and looking at the latest techniques as
well in strategic planning.
The Chairman. Do you consider these two documents in any
way to be in conflict with one another----
Ms. Hayden. Oh, no.
The Chairman [continuing]. Or supplement each other?
Ms. Hayden. They actually--and what I think--I have to tell
you that I am just going to say right now that I am so pleased
that you are interested in strategic planning. In my
professional experience, I know that that is not always the
most exciting topic.
The Chairman. Sure.
Ms. Hayden. But it is a vital operational management tool.
And so the Library has had a history of strategic planning
since the 1970s in earnest. And so this plan is going to be a
continuation of that tradition of trying to look at what are
the issues of the day and even thinking about what the issues
might be in the next 3 to 5 to 10 years that will allow us to
be considered as we try to take this Institution that was
established in 1800 into more current times.
The Chairman. If I may ask, Dr. Hayden, the 2016 to 2020
strategic plan and the Envisioning 2025 plan, are these
available to be viewed on the website?
Ms. Hayden. Oh, yes. Yes. They are available and we have
print copies. And we are very pleased that they are providing,
I think, a way for everyone to at least talk about what is the
future of the Library of Congress.
The Chairman. The Envisioning 2025, did that all begin
under your leadership since you arrived in September of last
year?
Ms. Hayden. Well, I mentioned also the Library's new
strategic planning officer, who is right here. And she--I had
already--was very pleased at taking the position, actually, to
know that there had been an emphasis on strategic planning and
Ms. Houghton had been hired. And so that is when I said, my
goodness, we have a structure possibly in place to really make
strategic planning a dynamic. That is why I make the office
report directly to the Librarian, and so we will be making sure
that that is a priority.
The Chairman. Just so that I am clear then, that you see--I
was going to say you envision--anyway, you see the Envision----
Ms. Hayden. We have got you.
The Chairman [continuing]. 2025 being coordinated with, not
replacing the strategic plan?
Ms. Hayden. And it can't--it replaces it in terms of
operations, let's say.
The Chairman. Okay. Explain that.
Ms. Hayden. Each strategic plan has a number of action
items that will give a framework to achieving certain goals.
And the goals are basically the same--to be more effective, to
strengthen staff--those basic goals never change. They are tied
to our mission. And so the action plans--sorry.
The Chairman. Please, go ahead, Doctor.
Ms. Hayden. The action plans that will form the new
strategic plan are going to be the things like make sure in
Fiscal Year 2020 that all of--and this is the ultimate goal of
any strategic plan--all of our fiscal appropriation requests
are tied and measurable to achieving the goals, those types of
things. So that by 2020, those two things, the fiscal and the
actions, will meld; that you are not doing anything that isn't
tied to your ultimate goal of serving Congress and the people.
The Chairman. And we look forward to working with you on
both of those items and also in looking at measurable
benchmarks so we can work together on that.
And with that, I will recognize the Ranking Member, Mr.
Brady, for 5 minutes for questions.
Mr. Brady. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Hayden, the Congressional Research Service is one
service unit, which sole customer is the Library of Congress.
How will the revised strategic plan impact CRS service to
Congress?
Ms. Hayden. The CRS mission to serve Congress in the most
efficient and effective way is really an embedded part of the
Library's general plan. And the CRS unit has its own strategic
direction and plan to be very specific about how it will
achieve that. For instance, making sure that the latest
technology is employed to serve Congress better, to look at
staffing patterns. So the CRS strategic plan and action steps
will be and continue to be directed toward their specific
mission.
Mr. Brady. Thank you. And the Veterans History Project has
been an incredibly successful and popular program. How will the
revised plan build on the success and enhance the project?
Ms. Hayden. I am very excited about the progress of the
Veterans History Project. In fact, we have moved and are
planning to move the office to the Jefferson Building for more
visibility. And we have started to implement the Gold Star
Families recommendations, and our Director of the Veterans
History Project, Dr. Lloyd, is the first female medic in the
Army, and she has been making presentations to all types of
veterans groups. And we are road testing a mobile app that will
make it easier for veterans to give their oral histories.
We would like to also expand the program to each State. And
we would seek Congress' help on that, because we feel that
reaching out and using local libraries and other institutions
to be recording studios, basically, will help us get even more
oral histories. We have over 120,000 now oral histories from
veterans.
Mr. Brady. Thank you, Doctor. And thank you for the job
that you are doing in serving the United States, the people in
the Library, people who come see you, and the students and,
naturally again, the veterans.
Thank you, and I yield back.
The Chairman. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair will now recognize the gentleman from North
Carolina, Mr. Walker, for 5 minutes for the purpose of
questions.
Mr. Walker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Hayden, thank you for being with us today. It is always
a pleasure to see you.
The Library serves many diverse constituent communities,
including visiting public, the copyright community, and others.
How are you gathering proper customer data in order to better
access user needs, customer accessibility, and satisfaction?
Can you speak to that?
Ms. Hayden. Oh, and thank you for asking that, because a
vital part of any strategic planning effort is to gather data
and information. So the Library has several mechanisms in terms
of customer, basically, satisfaction, starting with the mission
specific units. CRS just recently participated in a Gallup
survey of Congress and staff members, and that was very
helpful. And we will be updating that with this strategic
planning effort, as well as visitor surveys we ask people when
they come into the different facilities. We also survey
researchers, and when we are going to do more online that
people can--you have probably seen at airports, for instance,
where you exit a flight and they ask you to rate. So we are
looking at all types of nonobtrusive and voluntary ways that we
can also get input.
Mr. Walker. There is a little button as you come out of the
Dunkin' Donuts in the Longworth Building, and you just hit the
green button as you go out. Maybe something like that. I am
just----
Ms. Hayden. Well, there are a lot of ways.
Mr. Walker. Yeah, absolutely.
Ms. Hayden. It is very helpful, though.
Mr. Walker. Historically, the Library has ascertained most
of its collections from its copyright authority role. I am sure
you are aware of that.
Ms. Hayden. Yes.
Mr. Walker. There are proposals, though, being discussed to
move the Copyright Office out of the Library entirely. If that
were to happen, can you tell me, how would the Library maintain
its historic collections and acquisitions?
Ms. Hayden. The historic collection that has actually made
the Library of Congress the largest in the world is based on
the 1870 law that required people who are registering for
copyright of any type to deposit two copies, physical copies of
those materials. And that has enabled the Library to grow and
provide materials that would have been fiscally impossible. And
it was designed to do that.
And so the opportunity to continue the deposit requirement
would be vital to continuing that, wherever the Copyright
Office would reside. The deposit requirement is what is
essential.
Mr. Walker. Sure. I can't see the timer from here, but I am
assuming I maybe have time for another question. As far as
specifically the cost of this transition, as far as moving it,
have you done any research or have any idea of the cost of
that?
Ms. Hayden. I have not been involved in any of that
research. I am sure that would be part of a consideration.
Mr. Walker. All right. Last question here is, in the
process of searching out for hiring a new Register of
Copyrights, do you have any update on how we are doing there?
Ms. Hayden. Oh, yes. The search has paused, waiting for the
direction from Congress.
Mr. Walker. Okay. All right. Well, thank you.
I will yield back to the Chairman at this time. Thank you.
The Chairman. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair now recognizes the gentleman from Nebraska, Mr.
Smith, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Dr.
Hayden, for being here. Appreciate your service.
Let's talk about congress.gov briefly. How would you say
you are satisfied overall with congress.gov?
Ms. Hayden. Congress.gov and any technology-based service
could always improve, and part of our information technology
plan is to make sure that any type of electronic service that
we get is secure. That is the number one priority and also very
responsive. And so we will be continuing to make progress on
updating and securing these systems.
Mr. Smith. Okay. So congress.gov 3.5 was recently released.
Do you anticipate more releases in the future? Can you speak to
that?
Ms. Hayden. I would anticipate updates and improvements in
the technology system. I can't give a definite timeline or .4
yet.
Mr. Walker. Okay. How would you say you measure customer
satisfaction from Congressional clients with congress.gov?
Ms. Hayden. The Congressional Research Service has a very--
and this is the technical term--robust way of determining
customer satisfaction, and their customers are, of course,
Members and staff. And so there are, from what I understand,
online ways to give input, as well as looking at usage and
usage patterns.
Mr. Smith. Okay. Shifting gears just a bit in discussing
historic legislative data of Congress, where would you say you
are in making this data accessible? I know there are entire
decades, over a century in fact, of the Congressional Record
not accessible by the public. Do you foresee this changing?
Ms. Hayden. Hopefully, yes. And we also are facing the same
challenge with the historical records for copyright of 32
million scanned cards that need to be put into a searchable
database. And so when you look at the challenges in the world's
largest library with these special units, Congressional
Research Service, copyright operation, the challenges of
technology are great. But we are very pleased that the Chief
Information Officer, Mr. Barton, has been tackling all of those
issues and working with the specific units to address their
technology needs as well. He has now the full support of the
units.
Mr. Smith. Okay. Thank you.
Now, in terms of public programming, how does the Library
decide which programming to proceed with or which not to
pursue? Do you have a specific method or process for that?
Ms. Hayden. We just established a centralized programming
review committee. Traditionally, the Library, every unit was
doing specific programming to its unit. Let's say the Middle
Eastern division, in terms of Library services, if service
units were doing it. So we are looking at how we coordinate the
programming and also have a review process to avoid duplication
and to really make sure that the programming fits the mission
of the Library. And you will see it, I can say this
confidently, more programming for the educational community, K
through 12, working with teachers, and doing more live-
streaming out to districts as well. We have started that with
the author programs.
And so we are having--for instance, when a popular author
is here in Washington, D.C., we make arrangements to have live-
streaming to school libraries and public libraries throughout
the country. So that will, we hope, give us a broader audience
and more awareness of the programming.
Mr. Smith. Do you give specific guidance to curators in
terms of programming?
Ms. Hayden. The curators that I mentioned in my opening
statement, that I continue to be inspired by the staff of the
Library, the curators and the researchers and the librarians of
the Library of Congress are literally experts in their field.
So if they say that there is an author on 18th century French
literature and how it influences, I--and we all tend to take
their word for it. And they are very in tuned with the
researchers or people who might be interested in whatever their
subject is. And so that is where a lot of the programming comes
from, those curators. They know their audiences, and they
really do connect with people who are interested in their
topics.
Mr. Smith. Okay. Very good. Thank you.
I yield back.
The Chairman. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair will now recognize the gentleman from Georgia,
Mr. Loudermilk, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Loudermilk. I thank you, Mr. Harper and Dr. Hayden. I
appreciate you being here. As you know, I am a frequent user of
the Library.
And I would like to follow up with some of the questions
that Mr. Smith had. I can imagine that your curators and staff
have a broad range of suggestions for different programs,
displays, et cetera. Specifically, on like cinematic
presentations that you do at the Library or at the Culpeper
facility, do you have a set of standards that you apply to
decide what is appropriate and what is not appropriate?
Ms. Hayden. The basic standard is to connect the
programming with the Library's collections.
Mr. Loudermilk. Okay.
Ms. Hayden. That is number one. So, for instance, there is
a summer film series that the Library is producing. All of the
films have been films that were selected to be added to the
National Registry of Films.
Mr. Loudermilk. Something like the disco----
Ms. Hayden. That was part of another--in fact, tomorrow,
the new poet laureate for the Library of Congress will be on
television talking about that program. So you will be hearing
more about poetry.
And the discotheque came out of the selection that the
Library does every year as well of sound recordings.
Mr. Loudermilk. Okay.
Ms. Hayden. And the person who--her song was selected, Ms.
Gloria Gaynor, I Will Survive, actually saw a great increase in
interest in that particular song and her career and offered to
do something for the Library. And what we did was to tie her
offer of a free concert, she is quite popular, with what is in
our collection as well that relates to that, related films,
related fashion, and different things that are in the
collection.
Mr. Loudermilk. But when it comes to specific, you know,
like a concert or like any production, I am sure that there is
a broad range of suggestions of what you can show or what would
be available to the public. Is there a specific set of criteria
that you go by to determine what----
Ms. Hayden. Yes.
Mr. Loudermilk [continuing]. May be appropriate and what
isn't appropriate----
Ms. Hayden. Yes.
Mr. Loudermilk [continuing]. For the Library of Congress to
put its stamp on, let's say?
Ms. Hayden. Yes. And the number one issue that you look at
in determining, because with the variety of subjects that the
Library covers, there--you could program every day, all day.
Mr. Loudermilk. Right.
Ms. Hayden. It could be a 24/7 programming machine with
everything that we cover, from prints and photographs to just
you name it, at the Library, baseball, football, dance,
theater, history, everything. So looking at, one, does the
program suggestion relate to the collection? Second criteria
would be is it relating to anything going on in the world? You
know, is there a women's history month? We would bring out all
of our suffrage materials, which we have a lot of. Black
history month, we really have a lot on that. Asian American
history month are there things that you look at.
But mainly, the main thing that we look at is how can we
tie in any program to increasing public awareness about the
collections that we have?
Mr. Loudermilk. So you really don't have something that you
look at and say, well, you know, this may tie in, but it really
wouldn't be appropriate to display?
Ms. Hayden. We did. When I mentioned that programming
committee, we are really looking at having a group that
represents just about every section of the Library, really
being that deliberative body as well and not just leaving it to
each----
Mr. Loudermilk. Do you ever have difficult choices that you
have to make of whether to do a presentation or not? And if you
do, do you ever consider running that by the oversight
committees?
Ms. Hayden. Oh, sure. That would be--in fact, with the
strategic planning effort that we are doing now, one of the
aspects in terms of--and this is an ongoing strategy to serve
Congress better and to make sure that we do that with our
central mission--is how to get even more input as we think
about programming, as we think about other services to get more
input from Congress. And so I would welcome, and we are
actually going to be making a formal request to find a way to
make sure that Congress is involved as well.
Mr. Loudermilk. Okay. And I thank you.
And I do have numerous more questions, Mr. Chair, but I
will submit those for the record because I realize my time has
expired. And I yield back.
The Chairman. The gentleman yields back.
I will now recognize the Vice Chairman of the Committee,
Mr. Davis, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Davis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My apologies for
walking in late, but I couldn't miss Dr. Hayden.
And it is always great to see you. I want to say thank you
again for your assistance with our Springfield, Illinois,
project that we have been talking about, and I look forward to
seeing you out there in the upcoming months.
I know I am going to be able to read some of the testimony
that you have given already and some of the answers to the
questions in the record, but I did want to ask something about
the strategic plan, the 2016 to 2020 strategic plan. It seems
to me to be a little bit short on some measurable benchmarks
and, you know, accountability standards in terms of where, you
know, in measurable terms that you see the Library is going to
be at the end of this strategic plan.
Will the Envision 2025 initiative include benchmarks, Dr.
Hayden?
Ms. Hayden. Oh, yes, quite a few. And, in fact, we are--we
have established staff teams, we are calling them tiger teams,
for all the different areas of possible interest. And one major
factor is, yes, it would be good to do so-and-so, but how are
we going to measure it. And what--and who is going to be
responsible. Sometimes, and I am sure you have probably had
this experience with strategic plans, they can seem very
wonderful. We are going to save the world. Okay. How? And who
is going to be responsible for it?
And that is a major part that we are putting in the
fundamentals now for measurement tracking and reporting as
well, that there will be reporting and people will have to say
here is how it is. But first, determining how you are going to
tell if you are successful. And also, how are you going to, of
course, correct if something is in the yellow zone in that and
to make it a continuous process.
Mr. Smith. Well, thank you. And I appreciate you making
additions to those measurable--making the additions to those
measurable benchmarks, and as you create these tiger teams, you
create some goals and measurable opportunities for your team
over at the LOC.
How do you intend to shift resources from one program to
another when you identify that maybe we ought to spend a little
more over here? So how do you intend to do that and what can we
as a Committee expect?
Ms. Hayden. What we hope, and this is the ultimate goal, is
that the strategic plans and the actions and what you think you
are doing will align with your fiscal appropriations. And you
have to, and we are working on that, getting the measurables,
getting the management, getting that, and then really making
sure that we are combining that with whatever appropriation
that we request. And I think that that will be a great day when
that is totally achieved.
All too often strategic plans are over here and your fiscal
appropriations are over here. And they are not tied together,
and that is what we are working toward.
Mr. Davis. I appreciate that symbiotic relationship.
Sometimes we have that problem in Congress too. We have our
authorizations here and our appropriations there. So hopefully,
we can work out our issues with our strategic plans when it
comes to those two issues too.
Since I came here late, I don't want to be redundant so I
am going to yield the rest of my time back, but thank you
again, Dr. Hayden.
Ms. Hayden. Thank you.
The Chairman. The gentleman yields back.
Dr. Hayden, by the way, you did an exceptional job on the
FOX News Power Player of the Week Sunday. That was very well
done. Congratulations.
Also, I wanted to state that I am looking forward very much
to your visit to Mississippi in August to participate in the
Mississippi Book Festival. And I will have the privilege of
interviewing you live on C-SPAN during your trip there. We are
going to have a great time. We will bring popcorn, maybe not.
But we will have a great visit, and I think you will enjoy the
hospitality that you receive. We look forward to having you
back for that.
Without objection, all Members will have 5 legislative days
to submit to the Chair additional written questions for the
witness, which we will forward, and ask the witness to respond
to as quickly as she can so that her answers may be made a part
of this record.
[The information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
The Chairman. Without objection, the hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:42 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]