Libraries are cutting back on staff and services after Trump's order to dismantle small agency
Libraries across the United States are cutting back on ebooks, audiobooks and loan programs after the Trump administration suspended millions of dollars in federal grants as it tries to dissolve the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Federal judges have issued temporary orders to block the Trump administration from taking any further steps toward gutting the agency. But the unexpected slashing of grants has delivered a significant blow to many libraries, which are reshuffling budgets and looking at different ways to raise money.
Maine has laid off a fifth of its staff and temporarily closed its state library after not receiving the remainder of its annual funding. Libraries in Mississippi have indefinitely stopped offering a popular ebook service, and the South Dakota state library has suspended its interlibrary loan program.
Ebook and audiobook programs are especially vulnerable to budget cuts, even though those offerings have exploded in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic.
'I think everyone should know the cost of providing digital sources is too expensive for most libraries,' said Cindy Hohl, president of the American Library Assn. 'It's a continuous and growing need.'
President Trump issued an executive order March 14 to dismantle the IMLS before firing nearly all of its employees.
One month later, the Maine State Library announced it was issuing layoff notices for workers funded through an IMLS grant program.
'It came as quite a surprise to all of us,' said Spencer Davis, a library generalist at the Maine State Library who is one of eight employees who were laid off May 8 because of the suspended funding.
In April, California, Washington and Connecticut were the only three states to receive letters stating the remainder of their funding for the year was canceled, Hohl said. For others, the money hasn't been distributed yet. The three states all filed formal objections with the IMLS.
Rebecca Wendt, California state library director, said she was never told why California's funding was terminated while the other remaining states did not receive the same notice.
'We are mystified,' Wendt said.
The agency did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Most libraries are funded by city and county governments, but receive a smaller portion of their budget from their state libraries, which receive federal dollars every year to help pay for summer reading programs, interlibrary loan services and digital books. Libraries in rural areas rely on federal grants more than those in cities.
Many states use the funding to pay for ebooks and audiobooks, which are increasingly popular, and costly, offerings. In 2023, more than 660 million people globally borrowed ebooks, audiobooks and digital magazines, up from 19% in 2022, according to OverDrive, the main distributor of digital content for libraries and schools.
In Mississippi, the state library helped fund its statewide ebook program.
For a few days, Erin Busbea was the bearer of bad news for readers at her Mississippi library: Hoopla, a popular app to check out ebooks and audiobooks, had been suspended indefinitely in Lowndes and DeSoto counties due to the funding freeze.
'People have been calling and asking, 'Why can't I access my books on Hoopla?'' said Busbea, library director of the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library System in Columbus, a majority-Black city northeast of Jackson.
The library system also had to pause parts of its interlibrary loan system allowing readers to borrow books from other states when they aren't available locally.
'For most libraries that were using federal dollars, they had to curtail those activities,' said Hulen Bivins, the Mississippi Library Commission executive director.
The funding freeze came after the agency's roughly 70 staff members were placed on administrative leave in March.
Attorneys general in 21 states and the American Library Assn. have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration for seeking to dismantle the agency.
The institute's annual budget is below $300 million and distributes less than half of that to state libraries across the country. In California, the state library was notified that about 20%, or $3 million, of its $15-million grant had been terminated.
'The small library systems are not able to pay for the ebooks themselves,' said Wendt, the California state librarian.
In South Dakota, the state's interlibrary loan program is on hold, according to Nancy Van Der Weide, a spokesperson for the South Dakota Department of Education.
The institute, founded in 1996 by a Republican-controlled Congress, also supports a national library training program named after former first lady Laura Bush that seeks to recruit and train librarians from diverse or underrepresented backgrounds. A spokesperson for Bush did not return a request seeking comment.
'Library funding is never robust. It's always a point of discussion. It's always something you need to advocate for,' said Liz Doucett, library director at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine. 'It's adding to just general anxiety.'
Lathan writes for the Associated Press.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
31 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump's approval rating on immigration leads in new poll. What is his approval rating?
Immigration was a flashpoint going into the 2024 presidential election, and it remains President Donald Trump's strongest issue in a recent poll. A NBC News Decision Desk Poll released June 15, conducted along with SurveyMonkey, found that 45% of Americans approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president, while 55% disapprove. Those figures remain unchanged from an NBC News survey in April. (The survey was conducted among 19,410 adults nationwide between May 30 and June 10. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.) According to the survey, 51% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of border security and immigration, while 49% disapprove, the exception to his negative overall rating. Here is what to know about Trump's approval rating and how Americans have reacted to his immigration policies. More: Did Obama deport more people than Trump? What to know as Trump calls for more ICE arrests What do Americans think of Trump's handling of immigration? Trump has focused much of his presidency on advancing his immigration agenda, including deporting thousands of migrants to countries such as Colombia, Mexico and El Salvador. During his 2024 campaign, the sweeping deportations became his signature promise to voters. Here are some other recent polls that show Americans' views of Trump's handling of immigration: What is Trump's approval rating? RealClearPolitics Poll Average shows the gap between Americans who approve of Trump's job and those who disapprove has been largely widening since June 7. Aggregated polls by the New York Times show a similar trend. As of Jan. 27, Trump received a +6.2 percentage point approval rating, but as of March 13, it flipped to slightly negative, the RealClearPolitics graphics shows, and widened over the following weeks until becoming the most negative on April 29 at -7.2 percentage points. His average approval rating margin as of June 20, according to RealClearPolitics, is -5 percentage points. The approval margin according to the New York Times aggregator on June 20 is -8 percentage points. A historical analysis by Gallup shows Trump's approval ratings in May in his first years in office − both as the 45th and 47th presidents − are lower than any other modern president at the same time in their administrations. Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@ Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @
The Hill
35 minutes ago
- The Hill
Israel attacking government sites in Iran as Trump floats regime change
Israel said it is carrying out attacks on Iranian government sites and 'regime targets' —including the notorious Evin Prison — as President Trump muses publicly about regime change in Tehran. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a social media post at noon local time on Monday that Israeli forces are 'currently striking with unprecedented force regime targets and governmental oppression entities in the heart of Tehran,' according to an English translation of the Hebrew statement. He said those targets include the headquarters of Basij, the paramilitary volunteer militia within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); Evin Prison, used to incarcerate political prisoners and opponents of Iran's leadership; and the 'Destroy Israel' clock in Palestine Square. Katz said the attacks are also striking 'additional regime targets,' including internal security headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards and the ideology headquarters. Throughout Monday morning, meanwhile, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said sirens were sounding across the country as Iran continued to launch missiles targeting Israel. 'For every attack on the Israeli home front, the Iranian dictator will be punished, and the strikes will continue with full force. We will continue to act to protect the home front and defeat the enemy until all war objectives are achieved,' Katz said in his statement on Monday. The remarks come after U.S. forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday evening, in what Trump called a 'spectacular military success.' The bombs targeted nuclear sites in Natanz, Esfahan and Fordow, which is located inside a mountain. Six 'bunker buster' bombs were reportedly dropped on Fordow, while more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles were launched at the other two sites. Trump has warned Iran against taking any retaliatory actions, warning of additional attacks if the country does not make meaningful efforts towards peace. While administration officials have repeatedly said that regime change is not the objective of the White House, Trump on Sunday evening publicly mused about its prospects if Iran does not come to the negotiating table in good faith. 'It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change,' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!' Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Associated Press
35 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Support for solar energy and offshore wind falls among Democrats and independents, AP-NORC poll says
Americans' support for green energy tax credits and renewable energies like wind and solar power has decreased in recent years, according to a new poll, driven by a softening in support from Democrats and independents. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that U.S. adults' support for tax credits for electric vehicles and solar panels has weakened, as well as their enthusiasm for offshore wind farm expansion. While Democrats remain the strongest supporters of these initiatives, the poll reveals signs of growing cynicism within their ranks. The poll results coincide with sweeping changes President Donald Trump's Republican administration is making to regulations related to energy and climate change, including slashing the federal workforce in these departments. And although Democrats and independents have weakened their support for some green energy initiatives, there has not been an increase in support for Trump's energy policies. The poll found only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults — including only 1 in 10 Democrats and about 2 in 10 independents, along with three-quarters of Republicans — approve of the way Trump is handling climate change, which largely tracks with his overall approval rating. Democrats and independents drive decline in support for renewable energy credits About 6 in 10 Democrats, 58%, favor tax credits for purchasing an electric vehicle, down from about 7 in 10 in 2022. Among independents, support declined from 49% in 2022 to 28%. Only one-quarter of Republicans supported this policy in 2022, and that hasn't changed measurably. 'As far as the pollution goes ... the vehicles nowadays put out very little emissions to the air,' said JD Johnson, a 62-year-old Democrat from Meadowview, Virginia, who somewhat opposes tax credits to purchase an electric vehicle. That's partly because he sees the electric vehicle manufacturing process as energy intensive and believes gasoline-powered vehicles have made improvements with the pollutants they emit. The decline in favoring solar panel tax credits was across the board rather than being concentrated among Democrats. 'For solar panels, in all honesty, I don't think they're that efficient yet,' said Glenn Savage, 78, a left-leaning independent from Rock Hill, South Carolina. 'I'd rather see them pour money into research and try to get the solar panels more efficient before they start giving tax breaks to the public. I may be wrong on that, but that's just my thought.' Scientists say transitioning to renewable energies and ditching fossil fuels that release planet-warming emissions are essential to protect the planet. Billions of dollars in project grants for clean technologies awarded during President Joe Biden's Democratic administration have been canceled by the Trump administration, and the offshore wind sector has been stunted by Trump's executive order that paused approvals, permits and loans for wind energy projects. Fewer than half of U.S. adults, 44%, now say that offshore wind farms should be expanded in the U.S., down from 59% in 2022. About half favor expanding solar panel farms, while about two-thirds were in support in 2022. When people are concerned about the economy and their personal finances, environmental issues are sometimes prioritized less, said Talbot Andrews, an assistant professor in the department of government at Cornell University who was not involved in the poll. 'I think it makes people anxious to think about increased taxes or increased spending on environmental issues when the cost of eggs are going through the roof,' Andrews said. Low support for Trump's efforts to expand offshore drilling and coal mining Trump has championed the expansion of offshore oil drilling, as well as domestic coal production. Despite a decline in support for expanded renewable energies, the new poll shows that only about one-third of U.S. adults think offshore drilling for oil and natural gas should be expanded in the U.S., and only about one-quarter say this about coal mining. In both cases, Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to support expanding these energy sources. Trump has sought to open up national monuments for oil drilling, but more U.S. adults oppose than support auctioning off more public space for oil drilling. Only about one-quarter of U.S. adults favor this, while 4 in 10 are opposed. Republicans are much more likely than independents or Democrats to be in support. Bipartisan support for consumer rebates and home appliance ratings The Energy Star program that certifies appliances, such as dishwashers and refrigerators, as energy efficient recently appeared in headlines when the EPA made plans to scrap the program. The blue and white logo is well recognized, and experts say the program has long had bipartisan support until recently. The poll found three-quarters of Democrats support providing consumer rebates for efficient home appliances, compared with 6 in 10 Republicans. Patrick Buck, 54, from Chicago, describes himself as a liberal Republican and is a fan of the consumer rebates for energy-efficient appliances. 'It seems to work in terms of transforming what people have in their houses, because a lot of people have a lot of old appliances and just can't afford new ones,' he said. Safe air, water, meat and produce The poll found only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults are 'extremely' or 'very' confident in the federal government's ability to ensure the safety of their drinking water, the air they breathe and the meat, poultry, fruits and vegetables they buy in grocery stores. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are 'somewhat' confident in the federal government's ability to ensure the safety of each of these, and about 4 in 10 are 'not very' or 'not at all' confident. The Trump administration has announced plans to roll back rules and policies related to limiting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, such as rules that limit pollution from power plants and blocking California's efforts to phase out cars that run on gas. The federal government has also cut staff at the Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency tasked with protecting public health and ensuring food supply safety. ___ The AP-NORC poll of 1,158 adults was conducted June 5-9, using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 4 percentage points. ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
