The Future of Public Knowledge
An Investigation into the Motivations Behind Recent Firings at the Library of Congress
Infophilia, a Positive Psychology of information | May 14, 2025 | Vol. 3, Issue 25 (Bonus edition)
✨Welcome to Infophilia, a weekly letter exploring how our love of information and connections can help us all thrive, individually and collectively.
The institution serving as the national library of the United States is perhaps more fortunate than its predecessors in other countries. It has the Congress as its godfather… This stroke of good fortune has made it perhaps the most influential of all the national libraries of the world. - S.R. Ranganathan (in John Y. Cole. For Congress and Nation: A Chronological history of the Library of Congress. Washington D.C. Library of Congress, 1978. Preface, page vii.)
Update: I continue to feel immense gratitude for Dr. Carla Hayden, 14th Librarian of Congress, who was appointed with strong bipartisan support, and the LC staff. I was astonished, reading about the incident involving the Department of Justice officials Brian Nieves, who claimed to be the new acting deputy librarian and Paul Perkins, who asserted he was the new Director of the Copyright Office, as they were denied entry to that Office. I admire the LC staff and general counsel for their decisive and diplomatic actions in the matter. And, I am struck by the emails sent to all staff by Robert R. Newlen, Acting Librarian of Congress: “Congress is engaged with the White House and we have not received direction from Congress about how to move forward…. Congress continues to engage with the White House, and we have not yet received direction from Congress about how to move forward. Please know how much we value your work and appreciate all that you continue to do for the Congress, the American people, and the institution” Newlen has a long and distinguished career at LC, having started in 1975 and held various leadership positions, including the Congressional Research Service and the Law Library as well as serving as deputy Librarian of Congress. More recently, he was the executive director and director of strategic initiatives of the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation in Phoenix where he oversaw all operations of the foundation and implemented the annual Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award. Thank you to the LC and library workers everywhere. As someone aptly put it: You truly are our community heroes!
Cite as: Coleman, Anita S. (2025, May 14). The Future of public knowledge: an investigation into the motivations behind recent firings at the Library of Congress. Infophilia, a positive psychology of information, 3 (25).
Protecting Public Knowledge v. Exploiting Information for Commercial Interests
The recent firings of the 14th Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden and the 14th Register of Copyrights and the Director of the Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, have provoked many different responses from various communities. Some have questioned the legality of the firings and hirings and others have focused on the intellectual property (IP) and public knowledge power grab. Given our interest in intellectual freedom (we’ve been exploring the Freedom of Information Act libraries) and adaptive infophilia I decided to see if this second claim is indeed true. First, I share some of the key preliminary evidence from my modest investigation in the form of a timeline. Then, I describe my new AI assistant ChatIP and invite you to use it to learn more about AI and copyright safely and from trusted sources.
What evidence exists that recent firings at the Library of Congress are motivated by a public knowledge power grab?
A timeline of key events around Gen AI and Intellectual Property (IP) suggests that the recent firings at the Library of Congress, Shira Perlmutter and Dr. Carla Hayden, are motivated by a desire to gain private control over the vast treasure house of knowledge and information, especially digital, that rightfully belong to copyright owners or the public. The fact that Perlmutter was fired on May 10, 2025—just hours after the release of the pre-publication version of the U.S. Copyright Office’s report Part 3 on Generative AI training (released on May 9, 2025), which included definitive recommendations about fair use—raises suspicions about potential motivations. Additionally, the timing of these firings coincides with significant upcoming events in the lawsuits against AI companies. Even as I write this on May 13, 2025, I attended a discovery hearing in the Concord Music v. Anthropic lawsuit. The Judge had previously ruled that the issue of fair use remains unresolved and is being worked out. With the firing of the Register of Copyrights, who oversaw this report, it’s now unclear who has the authority for its final approval. Furthermore, it’s highly possible that the new Register of Copyrights may take an entirely different view or even rescind the report.
Some of the preliminary evidence presented as a reverse chronological timeline
2025 (emphasis are mine)
July - The final AI Action Plan with a new direction (requested in January) is expected to be delivered to the President in July 2025.
May - July - Six (6) lawsuits involving AI companies where the doctrine of fair use is their central defense against allegations of copyright infringement have hearings; details are in the section on Upcoming AI Lawsuits: Hearings below.
May 13 (Tuesday) - Emerging bipartisan concern and support over the firings of Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden and Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter and the allegations of attempts to take over independent institutions and their data.
May 13 (Tuesday) - Book author plaintiffs in two copyright lawsuits with summary judgment motions on fair use pending, Kadrey v. Meta and Bartz v. Anthropic (summary judgement hearing scheduled on May 23), cite Part 3, Generative AI training report pre-publication version of the U.S. Copyright Office’s three part series on Copyright and AI as Supplemental Authority.
May 12 (Monday) – At the LC Office of Copyright in the Madison Memorial Building, the two Department of Justice officials appointed as replacements to Shira Perlmutter are not allowed to enter the building by LC staff and general counsel. Robert Newlen, Acting Librarian of Congress had sent an email earlier to all LC employees, asserting his authority, and that the Library would wait for congressional direction before proceeding. He’d also notified staff of the Saturday firing of the Register of Copyrights.
May 10 (Saturday) - 14th Register of Copyrights and the Director of the Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, Juris Doctor fired.
May 9 (Friday) – The pre-publication version of Part 3, concerning generative AI training and related legal issues, released by the US Copyright Office, with a final version expected soon.
May 8 (Thursday) - The 14th Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, fired. Robert Newlen who was serving as Principal Deputy Librarian automatically took over as Acting Librarian of Congress.
April 26 (Saturday) – (White House Proclamation) - World Intellectual Property Day.
April 24 (Thursday) - 10,168 responses to the notice calling for a new AI action plan. This includes tech companies, academics, special interest sectors, general public, etc.
March 25 - The American Action Forum, widely recognized as a conservative or center-right thinktank (founded by Republican strategists) publishes its insights on the public comments in The Forthcoming Artificial Intelligence Action Plan: “five core themes emerged as significantly overlapping across organizations: export controls and U.S. leadership infrastructure investment, regulatory frameworks, ethical artificial intelligence (AI) development, safety and security, and intellectual property.” They further note that “While Biden leaned on executive orders and agency efforts – pushing ethical AI principles such as safety and civil rights in the absence of congressional action – his administration was also characterized by a mix of state-level rules that likely added increased compliance costs for the industry. Recent moves suggest Trump will lean toward a more adaptable strategy, aligning with the goal of maintaining U.S. dominance in AI with the use of free markets, increased research, and greater entrepreneurship.”
March 15 (Saturday) - Comments close for the new AI action plan.
February 7 (Friday) – Dr. Colleen Shogan, 11th Archivist of the US fired.
February 6 (Thursday) - Request for Information on the Development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan. A Notice by the National Science Foundation. Public comments to close on March 15. Federal Register 2025-02305 (90 FR 9088)
January 23 (Thursday) - Executive Order 14179 - Removing barriers to American leadership in Artificial Intelligence formally revoked (rejected) Biden’s Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence executive order. Instead, it called for a new action plan that "will define the priority policy actions needed to sustain and enhance America’s AI dominance, and to ensure that unnecessarily burdensome requirements do not hamper private sector AI innovation." The new executive order explicitly prioritizes innovation and global dominance, and de-emphasizes regulatory safeguards.