IMLS Update: Timeline of Key Events and Status

Since March of this year, libraries across the country have wrestled with federal funding uncertainty and the prospect of losing widely used programs and services funded by those dollars. An Executive Order seeking to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) - the only dedicated source of federal funding for public libraries - was followed by the firing and replacement of key staff, federal lawsuits, court injunctions, and calls to action. With so many updates to this story over the last few months, we thought it would be helpful to summarize the timeline so far and the latest updates on securing IMLS funding.

House Budget Proposes Flat State Aid to Libraries, Anticipates IMLS Funding Cuts

Yesterday, Michigan’s House of Representatives moved its education budget through subcommittee, appropriations and approved the plan on the House floor. Because funding for the Library of Michigan falls under the Department of Education, the House Republicans’ budget gives us our first glimpse at their plan for public library funding in the next fiscal year.

Approved in a party-line vote, the House budget bill, HB 4576, preserves state aid to libraries, providing the same $16.5 million allocation as was approved for the current fiscal year. This is in line with the Governor’s original budget proposal for next year as well. Both budgets propose flat state aid to libraries in the amount of $16.5 million.

IMLS Update: Current Status and Next Steps

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has seen partial restoration of operations following a federal court ruling in Rhode Island v. Trump. On May 13, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. issued a preliminary injunction halting the administration’s efforts to dismantle IMLS under Executive Order 14238, which had terminated staff and grants in March. The court mandated the reinstatement of employees and grant programs, prompting the administration to report progress by May 20, including the return of staff members and the restoration of competitive grants in the 21 plaintiff states.

Take Action to Save IMLS Today!

Yesterday, a bipartisan group of senators—Jack Reed, Kirsten Gillibrand, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski—sent a letter to the new director of the IMLS. These senators are the co-authors of the last act that reauthorized IMLS. The letter urges Sonderling to continue IMLS’s mission to engage with and support libraries and museums, as Congress intended when it created the agency. Read the letter here.