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President Donald Trump has long belittled public libraries. This time around, in his second term, he’s ramping up his hostility toward them. His administration seeks to dismantle the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services—and AFT members nationwide have already begun to feel the effects.
In a March 14 executive order, Trump gutted the independent agency, which works to “advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development,” according to its mission statement. Trump has withheld at least $30 million from the institute in the fiscal year that runs through September, and his fiscal 2026 budget nixes the agency entirely—severing a lifeline for small and rural libraries and museums across the country.
Last year, the agency provided over $266 million in grants to American cultural institutions. That’s chump change in the scheme of federal budgeting, but for rural and indigenous libraries that run on bare-bones budgets, it’s essential. Funding from the agency has gone toward programs dedicated to improving accessibility for disabled patrons, facilitating state inter-library loan systems, providing broadband internet access and supporting a multitude of library systems within indigenous communities.
Mickey Dobbin is an archeologist at the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education and both a union steward and an executive board representative for the New York State Public Employees Federation, an AFT affiliate that represents professional, scientific and technical employees. He says the disappearance of about $18 million the New York State Library receives through the Institute of Museum and Library Services will put many of its key library services on the line.
The library’s E-Rate Program, for example, provides funding for affordable broadband access to eligible public libraries and public library systems throughout the state. It’s administered by employees salaried through IMLS funds, which means the entire program is at risk. The only way these employees can stay through the next fiscal year is if New York’s Office of Cultural Education moves funds from elsewhere in the budget. The state’s museums could take that hit, Dobbin said.
“We’re seeing our museums and libraries across New York state facing these critical funding cuts at a time when we’re seeing a kind of attack on the holistic and accurate reporting of history by the current administration. It’s very troubling. They’re both cutting the museum funding and the library funding while also calling into question the basic history that historians and museum workers and librarians are responsible for telling the people of America about,” said Dobbin.
As Trump drags libraries further into his full-blown attack on American institutions, rural systems are feeling the worst of it.
They’re “first on the chopping block” in a town’s budget, Allie Hahn said of rural libraries in Massachusetts. Hahn, a children’s librarian at Boston Public Libraries and president of the AFT-affiliated Boston Public Library Professional Staff Association, said that while most money for Boston libraries is sourced locally, her district’s databases have already seen increased use as area libraries begin to shrink or close. Over 1,600 school, public, academic and special libraries statewide benefit from Institute of Museum and Library Services funding.
The institute—until now—has regularly funded special projects in university libraries, too. In 2024, over 60 grants to colleges and universities were disbursed. The University of Tennessee and the University of South Carolina, both of which have active AAUP-AFT chapters, received grants toward improving the user experience and interest catalogues for LGBTQIA+ patrons. The University of Texas at Austin received funding to improve the experience of autistic patrons. Several other universities received funding to develop collections focused on African American heritage and history.
The ultimate fate of the institute lies in the hands of the courts—a May 13 decision required the institute to undo all changes since Trump’s March executive order. However, Trump’s team filed an appeal on July 31, and next year’s budget could still close the institute entirely. The House of Representatives has until Oct. 1 to pass a budget; until then, the destiny of the Institute of Museum and Library Services will remain in limbo as librarians and museum workers across the nation brace for what could be a grim autumn.
[Ted Bergman]