The last of the Institute for Museum and Library Services
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It has been a month and a half since the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has been overworked by the Ministry of Government Efficiency. At that time, the only government agency dedicated to public libraries and museums was transformed into a propaganda machine, with a different focus on where and how the agency would become a leader in the plans of this administration for America 250. It was a complete gut.
Two different lawsuits were quickly brought against the administration for these cuts. The first, Rod Island vs TrumpIt came from 21 state lawyers. The second, But against SondderlingHe came from the American Library Association and AFSCME, the largest union of public officials in the United States. The first case was hearing at the end of April, with the judge expressing frustration with the lack of evidence provided by the defendants. The second case was hearing on May 1, and Judge Richard J. Leon (appointed by George W. Bush) provided a temporary restraining order in the case. This solution means that there is a temporary suspension in the increasing dismantling of IML. Both the plaintiffs and the defendant in this case must submit a report on the status of AA to the present day, May 6, in order to continue the case to continue.
The temporary restraining order was sought as a last -minute effort to pause what would be an additional dismissal to Barebones IMLS employees on May 4. Although this does not save the agency as a whole, nor does the decision change the fact that the grants provided by IMLS dose of positive news among a series of libraries across the country. The judge sent further promotion of the plaintiffs signals, suggesting that the administration violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
The next day I saw more bad news.
The president has released the budget for fiscal 2026, which will start on October 1, 2025. This proposal includes a general destruction of the IMLS budget. Това е единствената федерална агенция за библиотеки и без бюджет, не само жизненоважните услуги на държавно и местно ниво биха били нарушени или премахнати направо – фундаменти за междубиблиотечни заемни услуги, изследователски бази данни, достъп до цифрови медии и други, предоставени от IMLS, тече в държавните библиотеки, които разпространяват тези пари за публични библиотеки в цялата страна.
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Beyond the undeniable damage, this would cause public libraries and museums, with special pain for rural areas of the country, it also raises the question of where and how the IMLS Director of the IMLS Director, which Keith Sonderling, will be used from state libraries. In an email that came out at all state libraries at the end of April, Sonderling asked for three parts information:
- What programs are funded in the United States from IML grants that are contrary to numerous executive orders to fight DEI published by the Executive Office
- How the money provided by IMLS grants for government programs is used to “grow educated and informed US citizenship”.
- How each state library plans to participate in the holiday of America’s 250th birthday next year. This piece is closely linked to the new IMLS focus on being a propaganda machine, as outlined in March, and it is closely linked to the America’s 250 program.
The agencies had to take into account all this information by Monday, May 5 – just days after the proposed budget for the IML removal was published publicly. If the department is ready for complete destruction, then this level of information would not be necessary. Not only does this feel like an opportunity for more perpetuation of lies and misinformation about the role and purpose of libraries in the country, something that IML has already started to perform in its official Instagram account of the agency, but also feels the main opportunity to Cherrypick ideas for rebuilding at the Institute of propaganda.
As this letter arrived in the incoming boxes of the State Library, there are letters informing individual state agencies that some of their IML funding has been restored by the administration. Some of them have previously received letters that various grants no longer serves the needs of the administration and thus terminates the funding (this letter is in addition to the original notice that the funding has been suspended while IMLS is dismantled). Maine has been able to scathing some of the abbreviations that the State Library has declared as a result of a loss of funding. Wisconsin announced that he was also receiving some of his money, noting that they had no idea how much of what was offered to them would actually arrive. The Virginia Library shared the letter he received to restore their grant to digitize the legislative petitions of the 18th and 19th centuries – a decision that came after the State Library applied for those funds to be restored.
The language around this recovery is certainly freezing:
As noted above, while state libraries across the country began to receive letters of redundancies to their federal funding, three states were informed that they would lose all their funding from the grant program for countries. A source reports that at least two of these states, California and Washington, may have seen these canceled grants. There is no additional information from writing.
Here are just a few examples of where and how the library world has responded to the most recent IMLS abbreviations. They focus on the training of the public about the restriction of vital and beloved services, as much as they encourage supporters of the library to emerge. Public libraries and institutions that support them must make more education and calls for action and advocacy in this way:
Remember that libraries are not and cannot be neutral. The so -called neutrality is far from the concern of those who have guerrilla axes to these institutions. Libraries are seamless-library in politics and their survival depends on the advocacy for their future.
Are you a lover of the library, advocate or activist who wonders what you can do to protect IML? Much of what you do to help libraries locally, also works for the federal level:
- Write and/or call Congress members and demand the IML reductions in the 2026 budget to be removed. Everylibrary does this easily with a pre -filled pattern.
- Write and/or call your representatives at the state level to support libraries and urge them to work to maintain or increase state funding for public libraries. If IMLS does not receive a budget in 2026, this shortage will have to be reported somewhere if the services will remain at their current level.
- When your representatives are in the community for mayoralties or other events, ask direct questions about whether they support IML’s long work and require them to know what they are doing to save the agency.
- If your State General Prosecutor has not participated in the trial against the IMLS cut, write and urge them to do so. Most state prosecutors are elected – Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee and Wyoming are the conception – so they emphasize that their responsibility is their people.
- For those with financial resources, make a donation to the local library or other public institution whose funding comes from IMLS. This money will go directly to these organizations. Even the small donation has an impact, as libraries have a return on the investment rate from everywhere between $ 5 and $ 9 for each dollar it has.
As for the impact of IMLS funding cuts, more and more institutions have shared what is set. The Juneau Public Library (AK) will end its ability to share resources with rural communities in Alaska, shorten digital resources accessible to all Michigan residents, and the California digital newspaper collection will be dark, among other huge losses for Americans across the country.
IML status and library funding across the country is a permanent history and will continue to be updated when more information emerges. For an agency whose budget represents less than .004% of the federal budget, the administration has certainly poured out considerable time, energy and money of taxpayers in the creation of discord and chaos in it.
The following comes from you from the editorial desk.
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