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hey hi hello so as the US goes through this ~ hostile government takeover ~ Trump signed an executive order last week to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). On Thursday (3/20) DOGE attempted to quietly raid IMLS but staff there posted to reddit and the unwanted media attention led them to put a pause on the takeover, for now. Trump replaced the director of IMLS with Keith Sonderling, who very openly stated that his goals are to "promote patriotism" and "American exceptionalism". We worry grants will be more dependent on whether your institution supports DEI [or anyone who isn't a white hetero cis amab].
A lot of libraries depend on IMLS grants! If they go away we will lose librarians and libraries may close, or at least significantly decrease their services. This will affect funding for technology classes, free resources for the blind, summer reading, databases, free internet access assistance, and interlibrary loans among other things. As the administration also targets social security, immigration, and other safety nets, libraries are attempting to fill the gap for the public, and things will get much harder without reliable funding.
This is also IN ADDITION to the administration calling book bans "fake" and some states attempting to pass laws to criminalize librarians, with fears in the library world that they will also try to make it a federal crime to promote or otherwise provide access to "inappropriate materials" which have included books that promote "gender ideology" or basically any character that isn't a white heterosexual cis amab. That is one of the cornerstones of Project 2025. This IMLS takeover will only make things worse, and make it harder for people to access information.
Personally, we have been told by our director to be very careful and not talk about this while at work because of fears of retaliation, we have had several calls from the public to remove books with gay characters (we didn't), and as an adult services librarian, I am already seeing an impact on databases I help the public use. Medline Plus, the only free and easy-to-use medical encyclopedia for the public I have been able to find, is a US government website and already has warnings above certain pages about the "harms of gender ideology". This warning can be seen above pages on health disparities and abortion.
If you're so inclined and live in the US, the ALA put together a portal that makes it easy to email your reps with a script. You can find the portal here. I would also recommend investing in your local library, post on social media what services you use, sign up for a library card and see how many resources you can access for free. Many state library associations collect user stories of libraries so they can show their stakeholders they matter. Like my library, it is likely that staff have been warned not to discuss this at work because of fears of retaliation, so try not to talk to librarians about this at work.
General advocacy page:
Article from NPR about the takeover:
What happens if IMLS goes away:
A report on how much museums give back to the US economy:
An interactive map of what IMLS funds in the US:
