Photo: Gavin Hellier/Corbis
Dr. James H. Billington said on Wednesday that he will retire from his role as Librarian of Congress at the end of the year. Billington, who is 86, was nominated to take the job by President Reagan in 1987. His colleagues, who have been complaining about Billington for some time, have some requests for Obama, who will get to pick his replacement. Namely, they would like a leader who uses email and doesn’t have a fax machine at his house, i.e., someone who might be able to help them put the Library of Congress’s resources online. Someone who doesn’t “lash out at people and yell at them and throw things” would be nice too.
