Carla Hayden received the 2018 Melville Dewey Medal for creative leadership in library management and classification.
On May 23, 2018, Carla Hayden received the Melville Dewey Medal from the American Library Association, one of the profession's most storied honors, named for the inventor of the Dewey Decimal Classification system.
The medal recognized Hayden's creative leadership in library management, training, cataloging, and classification, with particular emphasis on her transformative work as Librarian of Congress. Since taking office in 2016, Hayden had pursued ambitious efforts to modernize the Library of Congress's digital infrastructure, expand public access to its vast collections, and make the institution more approachable and relevant to everyday Americans.
Her leadership style emphasized transparency, technological innovation, and community engagement—values that resonated with the award's historical recognition of excellence in library science practice and administration. Under her direction, the Library of Congress launched new digital initiatives aimed at broadening access to historical documents, manuscripts, and cultural artifacts for researchers and the general public alike.
The Dewey Medal added to a growing list of honors recognizing Hayden's unique position as both a trailblazing historical figure and a hands-on library administrator actively reshaping one of the nation's most important cultural institutions for the 21st century.