Former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden found out she was being fired by the Trump administration in a brief email.

It said: “Carla, On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”

Hayden, 72, said in an interview Sunday on “CBS This Morning” that she has not heard anything since that May 8 correspondence.

“I was never notified beforehand or after. No one’s reached out to talk to me directly from the White House,” Hayden told Robert Costa.

Hayden’s confusion about her dismissal intensified when White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing that Hayden did not “fit the needs of the American people.”

“There were quite concerning things she had done at the Library of Congress in pursuit of DEI and putting inappropriate books in the library for children,” Leavitt said, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

However, the Library of Congress is primarily a research repository to serve the needs of members of Congress; it is not a lending library, and it does not have children’s books for checking out. Hayden said those comments made her concerned that the White House did not understand what the Library of Congress does.

For two decades, Hayden was the director of the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore, where the CBS interview was taped, before former President Barack Obama appointed her to become the first Black and first woman librarian of Congress in 2016. Trump kept her on during his first term.

Hayden’s firing comes as libraries and archives are under siege nationwide by the Trump administration and factions of the Republican Party. The Trump administration ordered 400 books removed from the U.S. Naval Academy’s library, among them history books and literature focused on the Black American experience. Among the authors banned: Maya Angelou, Bakari Sellers and Ibram X. Kendi. Almost all of the books were later returned.

The Trump administration has also scrubbed mentions of prominent Black Americans and their roles in American history from government websites, only to quietly reinstate the material after public outcry. The National Park Service removed the words “Harriet Tubman,” African American,” “bondage,” “enslavement,” “self-emancipation” and even “escape” from its Underground Railroad page; the Air Force removed Tuskegee Airmen from its website; and the National Cryptologic Museum covered up accomplishments of women and people of color.

Locally, Carroll County’s Moms for Liberty chapter has been championing the banning of books that discuss gender identity and foreground gay, lesbian and transgender characters.

Hayden, a Black woman, said seeing diversity and inclusion as a negative is puzzling to her.

“When you think about diversity and you put it to its lowest level – it’s wonderful to have options when you go and get ice cream. You know, this one likes strawberry, this one likes pistachio," she said. “I would stay with the chocolate, I must say.”

Hayden’s firing has galvanized the writer, researcher and archival community — a group more known for noses in books than orations at the lectern. Recently, a group gathered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Washington for a town hall. CBS aired clips of the gathering as part of the Hayden interview.

“The firing of our distinguished, esteemed librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden, makes it clear to us that the freedom to read, the freedom to learn, the freedom to express ourselves, is under attack,” said prize-winning and bestselling author Kwame Alexander. “We are simply going to be bold.”

Hayden said she was humbled by the activism coming from the library and author community, and she agrees that libraries are a pillar of democracy and, like many other pillars of democracy, they are under threat.

As the first Black and female librarian of Congress — only 14 Americans have ever held the position — Hayden said she recognized the importance of representation. It was a children’s book, “Bright April,” featuring a young Black girl, that inspired her own love of reading and long tenure as a librarian.

“That’s why it’s so important for young people to see themselves or to read about experiences they’re having, because it validates you. Somebody took the time; somebody cared enough,” Hayden said. “That’s what librarians are fighting for, that people will be able to say, ‘Here’s a book about our family. We have a family that other people might think is a little differen,’ or ‘Here’s a book that talks about someone who’s just like you, and because it’s in a book, and it’s been published, that makes it real, and it’s important.’”