President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14 to dismantle seven federal agencies that serve a variety of functions, including labor mediation and homelessness prevention.
Among the organizations on the chopping block is the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the federal government’s main source of support for the nation’s libraries, museums and archives.
So, how might the dissolution of this institute affect libraries and museums in Texas?
Wendy Woodland, the director of advocacy and communication at the Texas Library Association, said the state receives $12.5 million in funding from the IMLS.
“The money goes to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, who provides a wide range of programs to support libraries,” she said. “The funding supports interlibrary loan, a talking book program, digital literacy programs, e-books, technology – really it just runs the gamut and provides a great deal of support to libraries across the state.”
Interlibrary loan is one of the state’s most popular borrowing programs, Woodland said.
“If you live in a very small community and you are trying to do research for a science project, or you are trying to do some family research and you want to access a particular book and your library doesn’t have it, they can reach out to another library anywhere in the state and in about a week that book will be in your hands,” she said. “It just allows you to have access to materials that might not be available locally.”
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Woodland also highlighted the Talking Book program, which serves thousands of Texas who have visual disabilities by providing audio books, large print books and Braille books.
While the future of this funding is uncertain, Woodland said the Texas State Library and Archives has already received federal money from fiscal year 2024.
“It’s really very uncertain right now,” she said. “We don’t know what’ll happen for FY25 dollars if this agency, the federal agency, is dissolved; it’s just not clear.”
Woodland said she’s hearing a lot of concerns from librarians around the state, especially in rural areas.
“They rely on the programs that are funded to help them serve their communities,” she said. “Texas has a lot of very small rural libraries that don’t have big budgets. And these programs that they’re able to access because of this federal funding really make a difference in their ability to provide technology, programming, education, books, everything that they want to serve their communities.”
Woodland said the Texas Library Association has been encouraging its members to reach out to lawmakers to try and secure this funding for the future.
“We’ve been communicating with our members and encouraging them to contact their members of Congress to explain how important this funding is to Texas libraries,” she said. “And so we’re hoping that that message will get through and that Congress will take action to protect this funding and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.”
