1 week Ago
On Friday, March 14, President Trump issued an executive order that will cut funding to libraries and museums across the country. It’s hard to say exactly what the proposed federal cuts to libraries would mean. A variety of services are likely to be affected, including digital services like the Cloud Library, borrowing services between libraries and internet access that, in many rural areas, is the only access patrons have.
Jennifer Dupree is director of the Charlotte Hobbs Memorial Library in Lovell. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is a very small percentage of the federal budget and cutting it will do little or nothing except create a deficit in services to the most needy people. The American Library Association says, “The intent to undercut and eliminate the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is extremely shortsighted and perilous for the millions of Americans who rely on our public, school, academic and special libraries.
Library funding draws less than 0.003% of the annual federal budget yet has enormous impact in communities nationwide. From technology classes for jobseekers to services for people with disabilities, from library delivery for older Americans to summer reading programs for families, IMLS funding makes a real, concrete difference in the lives of Americans every day.
The president’s executive order puts all of those services at risk.” As a person who has worked in libraries for nearly a decade, I have seen firsthand the difference libraries make in people’s lives. Some years ago, a patron came into the midsized library I was working in and asked for help applying for a job as a dishwasher at a local chain restaurant.
He started out by explaining he needed to do the application online and that he didn’t know how. I sat with him and logged into the company’s website, where, after some minutes, we found the job application. To fill it out, however, he needed an email account.
The man then told me he didn’t have an email account because he’d never learned to read and so he had no use for email. He also could not set up an email account on his own. I helped him set up a free Gmail, then we filled out his online job application.
In all, it took us several hours, at the end of which he was profoundly grateful. And so was I. I was grateful the library had good internet access, space to sit at a public computer, and that my boss and fellow staff members were able to carry the rest of the day’s workload so I could help this patron.
Libraries are for everyone. They are the places you can go if you need help printing tax documents or directions, if you need book recommendations or a bathroom, if you want a quiet place to study, or you want to find a community of knitters, mahjong players, or, of course, readers. They are among the last places where a person can spend an entire day and purchase nothing.
What the cuts to IMLS signal is that the government is in charge and that, even if its actions are illegal, it will do what it wants. They can and will create chaos until no one knows where to look. And while I refuse to believe the government will succeed in stopping free speech and intellectual freedom, I believe that’s why libraries are being targeted.
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