Her tenure at SPL was short-lived as she was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as director of IMLS in 2011.

[5] During her four-year term at IMLS, Hildreth oversaw an annual budget of $250M; the agency awarded over $850M to US libraries and museums.

[6][7] When her tenure at IMLS ended in 2015, she briefly returned to California before becoming the first "professor of practice" at the University of Washington Information School.

[9] Hildreth received the first annual California Library Association Member of the Year award in 1993.

In 2016, Hildreth was named as the winner of the Internet2 Richard Rose Award for contributions throughout her career to bringing broadband connectivity to citizens through libraries.