On March 14, a Trump Executive Order took aim at the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The IMLS the only federal agency dedicated to public libraries and museums. Since that Order, the IMLS has been gutted, turned into a propaganda machine, been subject to two federal lawsuits challenging the Order, and seen its future as shuttering completely laid out in Trump’s 2026 budget. A full timeline of the IMLS destruction, as well as the impact of the work done to harm the institution, is available here.
But there is still an opportunity to turn the future for the IMLS around, and it comes through an all-in effort by Americans to demand restoration of its funds. While the Republican’s budget and taxing bill passed last week–a bill that will devastate all but the wealthiest in this country by cutting healthcare and food assistance and supercharging the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget, among other things–that bill does not impact the IMLS. The Fiscal Year 2026 budget for federal agencies is still on deck.
The House Appropriations Committee will begin to markup the Fiscal Year 2026 budget over the next several weeks. The Subcommittee overseeing funding for the Institute for Museum and Library Services is on deck for Monday, July 21, at 5 pm Eastern Time, with the full Committee markup scheduled for Thursday, July 25, at 10 am.
What this means is there is no more crucial time than now to speak up on behalf of libraries and the IMLS than now.
There are 17 members on the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, all listed here. Each and every one of them should be contacted over the next couple of weeks, whether or not they represent you. Email them and call them, articulating the essential value of the IMLS to public libraries and museums across the country.
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Once each member of the Subcommittee has been contacted, pass those messages along to members of the broader House Appropriations Committee. A full list of members is available here with the states they represent listed with them. Begin with your state representatives to keep the lift low, especially knowing your specific state House Representative may not be assigned to this committee (i.e., you live in Illinois and are represented by Sean Casten, but he isn’t on this committee; Representative Lauren Underwood is). You can then reach out to additional members of the committee, as time and energy permit.
What should you say when you reach out to members on the Subcommittee and Committee? Keep your message direct, evidence-based, and as short as possible. Here are some effective messaging ideas–choose one of these to focus on or mix and match among them all:
- Indicate the need for full funding for the IMLS, the only institution dedicated to public libraries and museums nationwide. Mention that fully funding the agency amounts to .005% of the federal budget this past year, but as has been demonstrated in study after study, the return on investment for public libraries is unbeatable. For every $1 invested in public libraries, there is a return of at least $4.50.
- Articulate what the funds do for public libraries. You can mention what your personal library funds with IMLS dollars if you’re familiar, or you can use this roundup of links dating back to the initial Executive Order targeting the agency to find information from local, regional, and national news sources. As of writing, there are 16 pages of examples of what those funds are used for.
- Emphasize that with the passage of the deeply unpopular and harmful budget and tax bill this month, libraries will become even more crucial to helping people find new jobs, access information about healthcare and food, connect to technology that they may no longer be able to afford, and find verifiable facts via trusted tools and professionals. These tools and services are precisely what IMLS grants address. Use the information and links in this story from EveryLibrary to support your assertions.
- Learn whether or not members of either the Subcommittee and/or greater Committee signed onto the “Dear Appropriator” letter distributed by the American Library Association. This is worth pointing to as proof of promise to support libraries in the next fiscal year and/or worth pointing to as a point of disappointment and query.
- Remind representatives that the Government Appropriations Office, a nonpartisan watchdog group, has already determined that the administration overstepped their legal powers in gutting the IMLS; feel free to also mention there are two ongoing lawsuits against the dismantling of the agency.
Also essential in your communication is the need for reauthorization of the Museum and Library Services Act of 2018, by September 30. Its 6-year authorization cycle ends at the end of this fiscal year. Only Congress can reauthorize this Act, and if they don’t, the IMLS will no longer be active, regardless of happens with the budget. So even if the budget for the IMLS is reinstated, if Congress doesn’t act, the agency will no longer have any obligations.
Right now the focus is on the House, as the budget sits on their calendar, but there is no harm in sending similar messages via phone and email to your representatives in the Senate. This is especially important on the final point above, reminding them the need to reauthorize the Museum and Library Services Act.
We have seen that pressure forced the current administration of IMLS to release funds they otherwise planned to withhold. We have seen that both cases against the gutting of the IMLS have been successful in court (even with jurisdictional setbacks). People in America support, trust, and depend upon libraries; what we have seen over the last four years of targeted attacks are coming not because of a turn away from such support. It’s come because fighting for libraries has not been as necessary. While the time for championing libraries has been perennial, there is no better time to begin–or to get even louder–than right now.
Once you’ve reached out to the House, what can you do to make an impact?
- Tell your friends, family, and neighbors about what the Fiscal Year 2026 budget looks like, including the plans to shutter the only agency that funds public libraries and public museums. Encourage them to get on the phone and get into inboxes.
- Post about what’s happening on social media. You have a tremendous wealth of links and stories to point to, as well as a timeline showcasing how this attack on the IMLS is targeted and purposeful.
- Write a letter to your own public library board about how much you support their work. Point to specific examples, such as the library’s summer reading clubs and how they have encouraged you and/or your family to explore what the library has to offer. These positive messages, delivered to the governing/administrative bodies of your library, matter significantly. Most people only reach out to complain.
- While you’re writing letters, send a short letter to a local or regional paper about the value of the public library. Use the links and information above to back up your statement, along with examples from your own library. Mention that the cuts to IMLS will have a tremendous local impact. Here’s a good example letter.
- Reach out to your state-level legislators and tell them the importance of supporting, championing, and funding libraries. We have seen that even with the loss of IMLS funds, state-level funding exists and/or has been increased. State-level support is not enough to ward off the reality of what an IMLS closure would do, especially in small and rural libraries, but telling your representatives that they’re doing good work when you see it helps encourage more good work.
- Correct mis- and dis- information as you see it. One of the biggest sources of poor information still circulating months after the Executive Order is that Libby and access to digital resources through it will be shuttered. This is not true. Libby is a private company, and libraries subscribe to their services, not the federal government. Many states use IMLS funding to help provide access to Libby, so yes, in some places Libby access is being challenged. But that doesn’t have to do with Libby–it’s a problem resulting from a lack of IMLS funding.
Want more actions you can take right now? You’ll find several options at EveryLibrary’s Save IMLS website, as well as find more information and action items on the American Library Association’s #FundLibraries page.