U.S. libraries are cutting e-books, audiobooks and loan programs after the Trump administration suspends millions of dollars on federal grants. Museum and Library Services Research Institute.
A federal judge issued a temporary order Block the Trump administration From taking further measures to address the agency’s eruption. However, the unexpected reduction in subsidies has hit many libraries hard. Many libraries are looking for different ways to rebuild their budgets and raise funds.
Maine fired a fifth of its staff and temporarily closed the state library after not receiving the remaining annual funds. Mississippi libraries have indefinitely suspended offering popular e-book services. South Dakota State Library has suspended its inter-liberation loan program.
E-books and audiobook programs are particularly vulnerable to budget cuts, even if they do The offering exploded in popularity Since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I think everyone should know that the cost of providing digital sources is too high for most libraries,” said Cindy Hall, president of the American Library Association. “It’s a continuous and growing need.”
Library staff were caught off guard by Trump’s cut
president Donald Trump Before firing almost every employee, it issued an executive order for March 14th to dismantle IML.
A month later, Maine State Library announced it would issue a layoff notice for workers funded through the IMLS grant program.
“It was a huge surprise to all of us,” said Spencer Davis, a generalist at the Maine State Library, who was one of eight employees fired May 8 due to funding suspension.
In April, California, Washington and Connecticut were the only three states that received a letter indicating that the remaining funds for the year had been cancelled, Hohl said. For others, the money has not been distributed yet. All three states have filed formal challenges with IMLS.
Rebecca Went, director of California State Library, said that even though California funding was finished, the rest of the states could never be told why they hadn’t received the same notification.
“We are mystical,” Went said.
The agency did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Popular digital products in chopping blocks
Most libraries are funded by city and county governments, but receive a portion of the budget from the state libraries. The State Library receives federal dollars annually to help pay for summer reading programs, library loan services and digital books. Rural libraries rely on federal grants more than urban libraries.
Many states are increasingly popular and expensive to use this fund to pay for e-books and audiobooks. In 2023, over 660 million people worldwide borrowed e-books, audiobooks and digital magazines, starting from 19% in 2022, according to Overdrive, a leading distributor of library and school digital content.
In Mississippi, the state libraries funded statewide e-book programs.
For days, Erin Busba has been a bearer of bad news for readers of the Mississippi Library. Foopla is a popular app for checking e-books and audiobooks, and was suspended indefinitely in Lowndes and Desoto County due to funding freezes.
“People have asked, ‘Why am I not able to access my books on Hoopra?'” said Basbear, the library director of the Columbus Lowndes Public Library System in Columbus, a majority black city northeast of Jackson.
The library system had to suspend some of the inter-librial loan system so that readers could borrow books from other states if they weren’t available locally.
“Most libraries that used federal dollars had to cut those activities,” said Hulen Bivins, executive director of the Mississippi Library Board.
The state is fighting a freeze on funding
A funding freeze occurred after about 70 staff at the agency took administrative leave in March.
The attorney general of 21 states and the American Library Association have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration as they are seeking the institution to be demolished.
The institute’s annual budget is less than $300 million, with less than half of which distributed to state libraries nationwide. In California, the state libraries have been notified that approximately 20% of the $15 million grant ($3 million) has ended.
“Small library systems cannot pay for the e-book itself,” said Went, a California State Librarian.
South Dakota has pending the state’s inter-laborary loan program, according to Nancy van der Wide, a spokesman for the South Dakota Department of Education.
Founded in 1996 by Republican-controlled Congress, the institute also supports the National Library Training Program, named after former First Lady Laura Bush, who seeks to recruit and train librarians from a diverse or underrepresented background. A Bush spokesman did not reply to a request for comment.
“Library funding is by no means robust. That’s always the point of discussion. It’s always something you need to advocate,” said Liz Dessett, library director at Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, Maine. “That’s just added to general anxiety.”
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Lathan is a legion of the Associated Press/America Statehouse News Initiative report. American Report It is a non-profit, national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms and reports on secret issues.
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