By Cole Gee | Staff Writer
Established in 1996, the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ purpose is to “advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development.” While it’s not as well known as many other governmental institutions, its impact is felt every time a citizen gets to check out a book or see an exhibit. However, recently-announced cuts have left public libraries and museums across the country waiting on the outcomes.
This is not the first time the Trump administration has attempted to cut major funding to the IMLS. Back in his first term, he called for the IMLS to be shut down, but Congress was against it.
Today’s circumstances are different, with the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency spearheading a campaign to cut government waste by any means necessary. Alongside DOGE, a new director was placed in charge of the IMLS: Keith Sonderling, former secretary of the Department of Labor.
Many museum and library organizations have begun to organize and plan for next steps should the IMLS face changes. The American Alliance of Museums hosted a webinar where they explained the possible future of museums across the country. One of the webinar’s many attendees was Eric Ames, a Baylor museum studies lecturer and the associate director for Advancement, Exhibits & Community Engagement for Baylor Libraries.
Ames has 11 years of experience teaching museum studies along with his work reviewing grant applications for the IMLS. He emphasized the importance of funding and grants for museums and libraries.
“I was there last year for panel reviews, and so I’ve seen how these institutions will put in applications for grant funding that really allows them to do things at their museums and libraries that they couldn’t otherwise do, like train their staff to handle their patron requests,” Ames said. “[The grants allow them to take] care of collections because they don’t have the funds to do proper storage or preservation work. They’re creating digital collections so people can get to those materials on the internet and not have to visit a local library or museum if they’re not able to.”
Continued efforts to cut funding is perplexing to him and other museum curators, Ames said, since the IMLS tends to generate high revenue and public support.
“IMLS is a small part of the federal government,” Ames said. “They administer a little over $200 million worth of grants every year, which sounds like a lot of money, but if you look at the actual budget every year, IMLS was using 0.0046% of the entire federal budget to hand those grants out. And the impact of those grants actually generated about $50 billion worth of positive economic growth for the communities.”
The IMLS website states how grants help support over 726,000 jobs as well as receive continued bi-partisan support, with 96% of Americans wanting to maintain or increase federal funding for museums.
There are currently 17,278 public libraries across the U.S. Each library has its own unique ties to the community around it and provides education, shelter and internet access.
Roosevelt Weeks is the Fort Bend County Library Director and has been in library administration across many cities in Texas, including Houston and Austin. He’s a Texas Librarian of the Year award recipient and has nearly two decades of experience with public libraries.
He’s directly dealt with the IMLS before and strongly believes in their mission to support museums and public libraries nationwide.
“IMLS provided the funding to upgrade the internet speed in Montana communities,” Weeks said. “They provide Braille books for the blind in Louisiana, and they educate kids from my home state in Mississippi. So IMLS does a broad-stroke job supporting not just large libraries, but for small libraries across this country. And for them to not be in existence would be harmful to public libraries and museums across this country.”
In many cases, public libraries are the informational hub for entire communities — it’s where kids from lower-income communities can relax in a safe environment and for those in internet dead zones, it’s one of the few places they can get WiFi for free, Weeks said.
“One of the things that we do very well … is helping people to look for resources,” Weeks said. “Whether they’re looking for housing, whether they’re looking for funding from the federal government, those are the types of things that the library is for. It’s the place where people can’t go anywhere else to get those types of services or they would have to stay standing in long lines. We tell them exactly what they need to do so they don’t have to go from one place to another.”
Weeks argues for the public to stand up and contact their local representatives to let their voice be known.
“We’ve galvanized folks across the country to make sure that their representative understands that this is the huge benefit to libraries in this country,” Weeks said. “Right now we’re working with the Public Library Association, the American Library Association, organizations that represent libraries across the country and state agencies. We’re utilizing everybody that’s there to support libraries and know the importance of libraries.”
