For one day, the Librarian of Congress was a 4-year-old

(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

published 13 January 2017

To say Daliyah Marie Arana is a bibliophile is an understatement — the 4-year-old from Georgia has already read more than 1,000 books by herself.

On Thursday, her dream came true when she was named Librarian for the Day at the Library of Congress. She shadowed Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress, and even got to sit behind her fancy desk. About two years ago, Arana's parents signed her up for Georgia's 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program, and she quickly made her way through all sorts of tomes, including college texts. Arana was invited to the Library of Congress after her mother, Haleema, sent an email, asking how she could make the most of her daughter's experience at the library. "She just kept saying how the Library of Congress is her most favorite, favorite, favorite library in the whole wide world," she told The Washington Post.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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