Jeffrey Brown:
Libraries are for checking out books, of course, but these days they serve a variety of other functions as well, providing residents with access to computers and the Internet, refuge during extreme weather, a place to vote, and a variety of classes, including language and fitness.
For their part, major museums with blockbuster exhibitions may get the most attention, but, around the country, museums come in all sizes and themes, many focused on aspects of local life. The main source of federal funding for libraries and museums, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, or IMLS, established in 1996.
Its 2024 budget of over $290 million was larger than two other better-known culturally-focused agencies, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. But a recent executive order by President Trump named the IMLS as one of seven small federal agencies to be — quote — “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
In a statement provided to the “News Hour,” an administration official said yesterday’s action is “part of a mandate to reduce bureaucracy and is a necessary step to fulfill that order and ensure hard-earned tax dollars are not diverted to discriminatory DEI initiatives or divisive anti-American programming in our cultural institutions.”
And for a response to all this, I’m joined by Cindy Hohl. She’s a Kansas City librarian and current president of the American Library Association.
So thanks for joining us.
So this is an agency few of us know about, but important to you and your members. How important? What kind of role does it play?
