Trump Signs Executive Order That Cuts Federal Library Funding

Library funding is the next target of Trump’s and Elon’s war on “bureaucracy” in recent executive order.

The executive order calls for “the non-statutory components and functions to be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law”. Seven agencies are listed in this order, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services which provides federal funding for libraries across all 50 states.

Only a small portion of funding to libraries is from federal funds (on average less than 5 million per state), but the federal funding is usually for critical services.

The largest federal grant, The Grants to State Library Administrative Agencies, addresses needs for education, workforce development, economic and business development, health information, critical thinking skills, and technological, financial, and other forms of literacy.

The Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program (LB21) is another commonly awarded grant whose goals are to encourage underrepresented and minority students to pursue careers in library and information science and provide them with the space and means to do so, and to provide professional development and training to enable libraries to meet the needs of their communities.

The last fairly common grant are the National Leadership Grants for Libraries which support projects that aid the publics education needs through libraries and archives, provide access to preservation of information, and provide services to communities in the event of emergencies or disasters.

All of this raises the question:

Why target libraries when the money spent on their funding is not only inconsequential to the overall federal budget but beneficial to their local communities?

It’s been clear over the past few years that when Republicans go after public libraries, what they want more than anything is to hurt LGBT+ and marginalized communities at all costs. To remove and bury their stories and, in attempting to do that, removing and burying programs that are nothing but beneficial to everyone.

Continue to support your local library. They’re essential.

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