State of Mississippi Judiciary

Librarian of Congress to visit Jackson Aug. 18 and 19

August 9, 2017

The Librarian of Congress will visit the State Law Library at 9 a.m. Aug. 18 to help celebrate the Law Library’s upcoming 2018 Bicentennial. The Law Library is located at the Supreme Court at 450 High Street in Jackson.

Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden is expected to spend about an hour at the Law Library, where she will greet Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals judges and law librarians from around the state.

Hayden will visit the Law Library the day before she opens the Mississippi Book Festival at the Capitol. At 9:30 a.m. Aug. 19, Hayden and Congressman Gregg Harper, chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress, will speak in the Old Supreme Court Chambers at the Capitol.

State Librarian Stephen Parks and his staff will host Hayden at the State Law Library. “We are excited to host Dr. Hayden and are grateful she can visit with us during her busy schedule that weekend,” Parks said. Parks will welcome invited guests and will introduce. Hayden, who is expected to make brief remarks. Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. also will speak.

Hayden’s visit will be a prelude to the Law Library’s 2018 Bicentennial, Parks said. Although officially established by an act of the Mississippi Legislature in 1838, the State Law Library of Mississippi had its inception in an act of the General Assembly of 1818. The General Assembly authorized the Secretary of State to purchase a set of the acts of the United States Congress and a digest of the laws of the states of the Union. The historic General Assembly resolution authorizing the purchase of books and maps will be on display in the Law Library on Aug. 18.

Known officially as the State Library, the Law Library is a specialized public library which provides legal research materials to the judiciary, state agencies, lawyers, students and the general public. The 265,000-volume collection includes state and federal legal sources including court decisions and rules, codes, regulations, law reviews and government documents as well as texts that explain law for laymen.

Hayden, who became the fourteenth Librarian of Congress on Sept. 14, 2016, is the first woman and the first African American to lead the national library. She was nominated to the position by President Barack Obama on Feb. 24, 2016, and her nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 13, 2016. President Obama previously nominated her to the National Museum and Library Services Board. Before joining the Library of Congress, she was CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore and deputy commissioner and chief librarian of the Chicago Public Library. She was president of the American Library Association 2003 to 2004.

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.

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