Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services Gutted

Main Reading Room. Detail of Blashfield’s mural in dome collar showing Egypt’s contribution of Written Records. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C, 2007. Photo by Carol Highsmith, Public domain.

An executive order issued by President Trump on March 14 called for reduction in six different agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to “the minimum presence and function required by law.” The staff of IMLS responded simply by continuing to show up for work, many wearing black. So, when Deputy Secretary of Labor and newly appointed Acting Director of IMLS Keith E. Sonderling arrived at its doors with security officers and DOGE representatives a few days later, hoping to padlock the agency, they were surprised to find all 55 of its employees hard at work.  They left, hoping to avoid a scene.

By the month’s end, however, the administration had dealt a seismic blow to cultural and educational infrastructure in the United States. On March 31, an abrupt order was issued, placing all staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services on administrative leave. The staff’s email accounts were disabled and communication with grantees cut off. Staff were told to take home their belongings and access to the building was cut.

What the  IMLS does

The Main Reading Room sits beneath the soaring ceiling of the Jefferson Building dome, June 17, 2022. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.

Despite its small size, support from the IMLS is key to the survival of hundreds of museums and thousands of libraries – especially small, rural, and underserved institutions – across the country. It was announced that IMLS would terminate hundreds of open grant awards, leaving the fulfillment of current programs in serious doubt. These programs range from annual grants to qualifying educational programs at small museums to programs enabling interlibrary lending and access to e-resources in communities across the country.

The closure of the IMLS is an unprecedented rollback of federal investment in cultural and educational institutions. The IMLS’ Grants to States program is the largest source of federal funding support for library services in the U.S. The IMLS website states: “Using a population based formula, funding is distributed among the State Library Administrative Agencies (SLAAs) each year in all 50 states and District of Columbia, territories, and freely associated states.”

The IMLS has a very modest footprint—just 0.0046% of the federal budget— but as a coordinator of resources and co-funder of hundreds of key programs, its elimination will have outsized impact on communities. For the country as a whole, the close of IMLS sends a chilling signal about the future of public access to knowledge, culture, and history in America.

Milton H. Latter Memorial Library, a former stately mansion built in 1907 for a department-store magnate, serving the upscale Uptown community. The 1907 neo-Italianate mansion was donated to the city by a later family that owned the mansion to serve as a library in memory of their son, who was killed fighting for the country at the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific during World War II. Photo by Carol Highsmith, 9 February 2021, Library of Congress, public domain.

IMLS has supported over 120,000 libraries and 35,000 museums nationwide. In doing so, IMLS has helped to provide museum programming that includes traveling exhibits, K–12 curriculum development, staff training, and conservation of cultural heritage. Increasingly, U.S. museums have stepped in to provide the only arts education and cultural programming available to schoolchildren as art electives have been eliminated from curricula in schools strapped for funding. Huge numbers of American schoolchildren will be impacted by the agency’s elimination, as IMLS helps make museum education programs and field trips possible.

The scope of IMLA awards include some of America’s most popular family venues – including zoos. The San Diego Zoo described the news as “a gut punch” – it received $646,000 in federal grants from IMLA last year – $247,000 of that for staff training for 37 people in its educational programs. San Diego’s libraries also receive IMLS funding.

Museum and library partners reacted swiftly, stating that dismantling of IMLS places both museums and libraries across the country in immediate peril. Organizations such as the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and the American Library Association (ALA) have issued strong condemnations. AAM has emphasized that 96% of Americans support maintaining or increasing federal funding for museums, according to national polling.

Critics of the executive order warn that eliminating IMLS may constitute a violation of Congress’s constitutional authority to appropriate funds. Legal challenges are forthcoming, though outcomes remain uncertain.

Lesser Kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis) in San Diego Zoo, 5 April 2013, Photo Abujoy, CCA 3.0 Unported license.

The closure, carried out under the administration’s Executive Order on “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” will disrupt vital programming, curtail access to educational and cultural resources, and jeopardize long-term preservation efforts at thousands of institutions. For many, IMLS has not only been a funding source but also a lifeline in providing support for community programming, as a trustee of a small Taos, NM museum told CPN this week.

IMLS provided critical digital infrastructure, which enabled interlibrary lending and access to e-resources in communities across the country. An example of this support can be found in IMLS funding for Michigan’s MelCat system, which enables libraries all over Michigan to quickly access and obtain any book in any library in Michigan for its patrons. In addition, eight museums in Michigan alone receive support through IMLS.

History of the Agency

Lakota canvas tipi, circa 1900, Smithsonian National Museum of the Native American, photo 2012, photo by Tim Evanson from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, CCA-SA 2.0 Generic license.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services was established by Congress in 1996 to consolidate federal support for the nation’s museums and libraries. It merged two existing federal bodies:

• The Institute of Museum Services (IMS), founded in 1976 to provide grants to museums for conservation, exhibitions, and educational programming.
• The Library Programs Office, originally housed within the U.S. Department of Education since 1956, which administered federal support to libraries for literacy programs, technology access, and professional development.

Together, these agencies formed IMLS as an independent federal body tasked with advancing lifelong learning and civic engagement through grants and policy leadership. IMLS has been uniquely nonpartisan, bridging educational, cultural, and digital divides across the country.

National Impact

Cleveland Museum of Art, photo by Erik Drost, 24 December 2021, CCA 2.0 Generic license.

Over the past decade, the IMLS’s annual budget has ranged between $230 million and $457 million, consistently receiving strong bipartisan support in Congress. Its most recently available annual record shows that in 2023, it awarded $266.7 million in direct grants and services. However, IMLS also facilitates and administers grant funding from other federal agencies – making its impact or its loss much more far-reaching.

Typically, states and local governments contribute matching funds for these grants, but state financial support for museums and libraries has slightly declined overall, as states come under pressure to cover a multitude of social services. The closure will place additional hardship on states that rely on federal IMLS funding to match or supplement their own limited resources—especially for public library systems, small museums, and educational outreach programs.

Immediate and Severe Consequences

Cohoes Mastodon exhibit at the New York State Museum, Albany New York, Photo by Kenneth C. Zirkel, September 7, 2021, CCA-SA 4.0 license.

These reductions in services are not just about access to books. Studies by the Gates Foundation in 2010 and the Pew Charitable Trust in 2016 showed that approximately 23% of Americans rely on library access to the Internet – about 77 million people. The consequences of IMLS’s dismantling will be immediate and severe. As of March 2025:

• 891 active museum awards totaling $180 million are in jeopardy. These were matched with $185 million in non-federal funds from communities and institutions—funds that may now be stranded.
• The 2025 grant cycle has been paused indefinitely.
• Staff have been stripped of access to agency systems, halting communication with grantee museums and libraries left with no one to speak to and no guidance on the future of their funding, reporting requirements, or compliance obligations.

For museums, in particular, the impact could include:

• Cancellation of educational programming, including partnerships with schools and youth programs
• Loss of temporary staff and curators hired under grant-funded positions
• Halted conservation and digitization projects for rare and fragile collections
• Suspension of access programs that serve underrepresented communities
• Delayed or canceled exhibitions, many of which have long-term planning and touring schedules

Small and mid-sized museums, already operating on limited budgets, are expected to be hit the hardest. Many may now be forced to shelve programming and reduce hours. Tiny tribal libraries and cultural centers in Native American museums are particularly dependent upon federal funding and may close permanently without replacement funds or the expertise to locate other grants in the federal structure..

Future Action Required to Safeguard Libraries and Museums

Chinese art display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. Photo Sailko, 22 September 2010, CCA-SA 3.0 Unported license.

Options for museums and libraries are to seek emergency funding from state cultural councils and local governments, approach private foundations and major donors to bridge immediate gaps, and to explore grant opportunities through other federal agencies (e.g., NEH, NEA, NSF) – though these are typically more competitive and less tailored to museum and library needs. But these kinds of stopgap measures are unlikely to be able to substitute for a well-established and regular federal presence or to make up for the broad experience and advice offered by staff of IMLS to guide smaller institutions.

The loss of IMLS threatens not only financial stability, but also the national infrastructure for cultural memory and public education. Museums and libraries do more than house objects and books—they provide safe public spaces, facilitate dialogue, and offer free educational access to all ages. Programs supported by IMLS have helped preserve Indigenous artifacts, digitize African American history collections, support climate-controlled storage of archival materials, and fund educational exhibits on civil society, government, immigration and the environment. Without federal leadership and support, many of these efforts are at risk of being delayed, defunded, or abandoned altogether.

UPDATE APRIL 4, 2025

Cardfile at Indiana State Library, 3 October 2024, Photo by Rhododendrites, CCA-SA 4.0 International license.

A coalition of 21 state attorneys general has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its efforts to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and several other federal agencies. The lawsuit argues that the administration’s moves—executed primarily through executive orders—are “illegal several times over.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s statement said, “The gutting of IMLS will cause destructive harm to California’s libraries and museums and the communities they serve. For example, California libraries employ approximately 17,000 employees who staff the State’s 1,127 libraries and serve 23 million California library card holders. The California State Library budget for this year included $15.7 million in IMLS funding allocated for staffing and continued operations. Over the last 40 years, IMLS funds have paid for multiple statewide library programs, including support for tutors helping adults and children read, write, and learn English; summer reading and activity programs; and services that help feed low-income children when school is out. IMLS funds also pay for continuing education for librarians and library workers, a 300,000-title eBook library accessible to all Californians, and digital efforts to protect California’s cultural heritage and local history.”

The lawsuit includes plaintiffs from California, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and other states, emphasizing the widespread concern over the potential dismantling of key public service institutions.