“I am not a librarian, but I am THE librarian!” Daniel Boorstin said to me several times when he was Librarian of Congress. It seemed to amuse him, and it only slightly annoyed me. There had been some controversy over President Gerald Ford, like so many before him, appointing a distinguished elder scholar to lead the Library of Congress (LC) rather than a credentialed, experienced librarian. Of the 13 Librarians of Congress, only two were really librarians. L. Quincy Mumford, the former director of the Cleveland Public Library, with his 1929 BS in Library Science from Columbia University, was the only Librarian of Congress who’d graduated from a library school. He also served as president of the American Library Association (ALA). Herbert Putnam was a former director of the Boston Public Library, a past president of ALA, and the longest-serving Librarian of Congress.

Several of the more recent appointments have been controversial. Archibald MacLeish was not a librarian and was opposed by ALA. Politicians on the right accused him of communist sympathies. ALA has nearly always recommended candidates for the post when it was open, and its nominees were appointed more than once.

What stands out about the post is that it has always been held by an older, white male. The majority have been distinguished scholars or men of letters. Each has often, if not always, been a political ally of the sitting president. Thus, the only diversity among holders of the post has been in their ideological or political beliefs, and these have been muted once they were in the job. In recent years, the Librarian of Congress has been considered a lifetime appointment, although most have retired “early.”

I have actually met the five most recent Librarians of Congress and conversed with the last four. President Barack Obama will appoint number 14, with the approval of the U.S. Senate, when the current Librarian of Congress, James Billington, retires in January 2016.

Because it is an operational as well as a symbolic position at the helm of the nation’s, if not the world’s, greatest library, the Librarian of Congress post must change both its credentials and its characteristics.

I hope that President Obama will understand this need and find, among the highly qualified American librarians of all genders, races, and backgrounds, a new Librarian of Congress who can represent the great diversity of the United States and the great strength, range, and competencies of the nation’s library leaders.

The title must not continue to be a reward for partisan political support and loyalty. It must not continue to offer a comfortable career finale for a great scholar or author as it so often has. The Librarian of Congress needs to be a modern library administrator, capable of curating the great collections, leading the exemplary staff of more than 3,000, and keeping LC’s array of vital services current and on technology’s cutting edge.

LC must be led by a person who understands and not only can deal effectively with the huge cultural, economic, and political differences in America but can deliver information services that enlighten our Congress and the people of the nation. The Librarian of Congress must lead us out of the jungle of conflicting claims, rival demands, and legal interpretations that obscure our implementation of the rules and regulations of intellectual property and copyright.

Simultaneously, the Librarian of Congress must be an intellectual inspiration, with an acumen and articulateness that capture the attention of an argumentative society of free people struggling to govern themselves amid the tempests of a world so complex that true cultural understanding is rare and difficult to achieve.

If that formidable job sounds like the one most librarians work at every day, then that suggests an excellent place for our president to begin the search for candidates: in our nation’s libraries.

It is our duty, through ALA and through all of our most effective connections to government, to help the president find the right librarian to lead our national library. We all know she or he is out there ready and waiting to accept the challenge.