US libraries cut ebook and audiobook lending programs following Trump executive order
In the latest episode of How to Dismantle Public Services in 12 Easy Steps , a Trump executive order targeting libraries has real-world consequences. The AP reported over the weekend that libraries across the country are cutting programs that offer ebooks, audiobooks and other loan programs. These initiatives exploded in popularity following the pandemic, with over 660 million people globally borrowing them in 2023 — a 19 percent annual increase.
The cuts and slashing of grants followed a Trump executive order issued on March 14 targeting the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). His appointee to helm the agency, Keith E. Sonderling, quickly signaled that he was there to do the president's bidding. He placed the IMLS's entire staff on administrative leave, sent termination notices to most of them, canceled grants and contracts and fired everyone on the National Museum and Library Services Board.
Federal judges have temporarily blocked the administration from further gutting the IMLS. But while lawsuits from 21 states and the American Library Association make their way through the courts, the agency's federal funding remains frozen. And libraries are scrambling to adjust.
If you've ever used your library to borrow an ebook or audiobook through an app like Libby or Hoopla, there's a good chance federal funding made that possible. Libraries purchase digital leases for ebooks and audiobooks from publishers, enabling them to lend titles to patrons. The leases typically cost much more than physical copies and must be renewed after a set period or number of checkouts.
With library digital borrowing surging, those federal funds went a long way toward keeping the programs afloat. Mississippi has indefinitely suspended its Hoopla-based lending program.
The IMLS was created in 1996 by a Republican-controlled US Congress. The agency has an annual budget of under $300 million, with nearly half of that amount allocated to state libraries, which, in turn, help fund local libraries' digital lending programs. "The small library systems are not able to pay for the ebooks themselves," Rebecca Wendt, California's state library director, told the AP .
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Upturn
4 minutes ago
- Business Upturn
'He Just Greenlit Elon's AI Takeover': Wall Street Icon Says Trump's New Order Quietly Empowers Musk's Rise in the Machine Economy
BALTIMORE, June 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Former hedge fund manager Enrique Abeyta believes the most important AI story in America isn't happening inside a government lab or Silicon Valley headquarters… It's happening inside Tesla. Abeyta explains in his recent briefing, that thanks to a recent executive order from President Trump, Elon Musk now has a green light to deploy it — at national scale. 'Trump just cut the red tape,' says Abeyta. 'And Musk is the one most ready to move.' Trump Signs. Musk Accelerates. Dojo — Tesla's in-house AI training system — is now one of the fastest-developing AI platforms in the world. Built from scratch after Nvidia chip shortages, it's already outperforming commercial processors by a factor of six. Fueled by Tesla's real-time video data — 160 billion frames a day — Dojo doesn't just train AI. It teaches machines how to operate independently in the real world. By June 1st, Tesla will roll out its first robotaxi — with no steering wheel, no pedals, and no driver. The Executive Order That Changed the Game Last month, President Trump signed 'Removing Barriers to American AI Innovation,' a sweeping order to clear federal restrictions on domestic AI development. Within days, companies aligned with Dojo's architecture were reportedly 'expecting to receive billions of dollars from the Trump administration.' Abeyta sees this as the true start of the machine economy — where AI no longer waits for approval, and real-world deployment becomes the new battleground. 'Musk is deploying physical AI faster than anyone,' he says. 'And Trump just gave him the air cover to do it without interference.' Musk Has the Tech. Trump Cleared the Map. What we're witnessing, Abeyta says, isn't a partnership — it's a convergence. Musk built the system. Trump removed the guardrails. And now, for the first time, a private company is building the command layer for how machines see, move, and act in physical space — at scale. About Enrique Abeyta Enrique Abeyta is a former hedge fund manager who spent over two decades tracking capital flows and strategic realignments across markets and government. After managing nearly $4 billion in institutional capital, he now leads Breaking Profits, a research outfit focused on the systems, people, and policies quietly reshaping the future of America's economic landscape. Media Contact:Derek WarrenPublic Relations ManagerParadigm Press Group Email: [email protected]
Business Upturn
4 minutes ago
- Business Upturn
Musk Builds It. Trump Unleashes It. Wall Street Legend Says Dojo Is the First Real Test of the America First AI Doctrine
WASHINGTON, June 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — What if the most powerful AI system in the world wasn't built in a lab… but in a car factory? And what if the U.S. government was already positioning it as a strategic national advantage? According to former hedge fund manager Enrique Abeyta's recent briefing, that's exactly what's happening with Dojo, Elon Musk's custom-built AI training platform — a system now directly aligned with President Trump's push to eliminate barriers for American AI innovation. 'Musk didn't wait for permission. Trump just made it legal to move even faster,' Abeyta says. The Private Project With a Public Mandate Dojo was born when Musk hit a wall with Nvidia's chip supply chain. Instead of waiting, he built his own chip — one now said to be 6x more powerful than Nvidia's most popular processor. Fueled by 160 billion frames of visual data daily from Tesla's fleet, Dojo is training itself to operate in the physical world — with no human in the loop. On June 1st, Musk is expected to deploy it at scale with Tesla's first robotaxi: no wheel, no pedals, no driver. Trump Clears the Runway Last month, President Trump signed an executive order titled 'Removing Barriers to American AI Innovation.' The goal: fast-track domestic AI systems that can compete globally — especially against China. Dojo fits the criteria. One of Musk's key infrastructure partners is now 'expecting to receive billions of dollars' in federal support tied to the initiative. This isn't just a Tesla story anymore — it's a White House-backed acceleration plan for real-world AI control. Enrique's Take: 'This Is What Strategic AI Looks Like' Abeyta believes we're now seeing the merger of visionary tech with presidential willpower — a rare alignment where speed, sovereignty, and national competitiveness all converge. 'Most companies are still talking. Musk is already deploying. And Trump is clearing every legal obstacle in his path,' Abeyta adds. About Enrique Abeyta Enrique Abeyta is a former hedge fund manager who spent 25 years following power shifts across capital markets, policy, and technology. After managing nearly $4 billion in institutional capital, he now runs Breaking Profits, a research platform focused on uncovering large-scale economic inflection points — especially where private enterprise and public policy collide. Media Contact:Derek WarrenPublic Relations ManagerParadigm Press Group Email: [email protected]
CNBC
9 minutes ago
- CNBC
10 ways the 'Trump discount' is hurting the stock market
We keep getting thrown off, and the lack of predictability is driving investors elsewhere. Do we really think the economies in Europe are doing that well? Is Italy on fire? Spain soaring? No. But what they do have is consistency , even if it is the consistency of mediocrity. We, on the other hand, have no stability whatsoever because of the incredible, mind-boggling power of the White House. It's so pervasive, frightening even if you care about the U.S. Constitution, that I think the rank-and-file of both parties in the House and the Senate are shocked to their core. We have never seen anything like it. To think, you have to go back to the time of Andrew Jackson's presidency to worry about what happens if the judiciary is disobeyed is a statement for the ages. So, it throws us off. We sit here, agog, as Europe goes higher when we have companies in our stock indexes that are doing much, much better than any of theirs. But it doesn't matter because ours can be taken away with a stroke of President Donald Trump's pen — and don't we know it. 1. Nvidia The fact that Club name Nvidia last Wednesday evening could blow away numbers without China is incredible. The stock showed it Thursday but gave back most of the gains Friday. That's the power of the Trump discount. 2. Retail stocks We have whole swaths of the stock landscape getting held back by the Trump discount. We all were hoping to see that retailers would try to extract discounts from suppliers and then split the tariff pain with the customer. But the president attacks Walmart , perhaps the only company besides Club name Costco , to actually do Trump's bidding. Or what we thought was the president's bidding. Makes me wonder, if something were made in America, could you jack up the price without consequences? Most likely. It's no wonder that Costco's stock shot higher last week. It's the only retailer that's not yet having to raise prices. I don't picture the president being a Costco customer. If he were a member, I bet he would crow about it. The dollar stores may be right in the crosshairs next week. The Street worships them right now. But retail is mighty hard to trust. Thank heavens for Club name TJX , the company behind T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, which really is cutting prices. The stock is still too low as far as I am concerned. 3. Drugs stocks The drug companies have a huge Trump discount. I didn't pay much attention to the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) this year because I figured that no experimental cancer drug would come to the fore. Who would want to trumpet that? We know the president is adopting a position that's been antithetical to the Republicans, who have fought for years to not allow Medicare to negotiate prices. Now we have little-to-no understanding of what awaits us with pricing — so the price to earnings (PE) multiples keep shrinking. That's the Trump discount. Oh, and heaven forbid, you make vaccines. You are experiencing the wrath of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Glaxo's managed to avoid it, but there's that European halo again. 4. Food stocks On Monday, you will see how hobbled another group has become when Campbell's reports its quarterly results. We don't know what's happening behind the scenes of the soup company, which also owns brands including Prego and Rao's pasta sauces, Goldfish snacks, and V8 drinks. We do know that other food companies have been called in — don't know the names —and told by RFK Jr. to get the coloring out of their foods. 5. Apple Of course, Nvidia isn't the only tech company that's under fire. The Trump discount is crushing fellow Club name Apple . It's bad enough that people believe that Apple has "missed" artificial intelligence even as we know AI is going to go on forever, and Apple will catch up. To be sure, though, it has been slower than everyone would like, so far. But it's the incredibly shocking switch that Apple has endured that's so painful. Did anyone believe that the only goal for the president was to make all iPhones in America? We all got confused. We thought that Trump's goal was to get manufacturing out of China to anywhere. (So many retailers thought that, too.) It turns out that getting out of China to go to another jurisdiction, say India in Apple's case, might have been as bad or worse than staying in China because at least you had a better shot at selling things in China. That's probably no longer the case given the Chinese government's subtle antipathy for those who are pulling out or trying to minimize China. 6. Software stocks So far, software has dodged a bullet, or I should say DOGE'd a bullet because it looks like the federal agencies that were supposed to cut back on vendors saw their havoc wreaked on Booz Allen and not many others. That Club name Salesforce went down, at least, had nothing to do with the Department of Government Efficiency advisory group. It's an alleged sales slowdown from "old" Salesforce that's driving things lower. 7. Google What about the internet? Can you believe how hated Google-parent Alphabet is that the Trump administration has embraced the single most leftwing case brought by the Justice Department against the search giant? The fact that a case that I thought was confiscatory and punitive is being pursued as aggressively as it was under former President Joe Biden is shocking to me. 8. Bank stocks We even have a Trump discount in banking. We've seen almost no let-up in regulation except when it comes to bitcoin , which is rapidly becoming the only entity in this market that has a Trump premium. It is true that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent makes some sense — and is, bizarrely for this administration, consistent — but he's more of a fire fighter than a deregulator. I can only imagine the role he is going to have to play if we get a weaker employment number but a spike in inflation. I don't envy him. 9. M & A I do expect more mergers and acquisitions, and I know that there have been a few already that would have been shot down by the Federal Trade Commission under Biden. But that's a low bar. How can you do deals in a world where nobody can predict cash flow because of how unpredictable the White House is? Call that a huge discount. The stocks reflect it. 10. Energy stocks It's particularly galling when there's no lift in a group that had been hated under Biden: the oil and natural gas industry. I know the Trump administration wants more pipe, but nothing is happening. Trump wants to open up federal lands to drilling, oblivious to the fact that the oil companies haven't been calling for it because it is too expensive. No energy source is getting a break. The president is permitting all sorts of nuclear power, or he says he is. But his Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is the gating factor, and I see no change there. Bottom line The takeaway from all of this is pretty sickening. Take tomorrow. We were going down pretty consistently Friday — and when we got to down 1% on the S & P 500 , the president let it be known that there could be a call soon with Chinese President Xi Jinping . Nevermind, that hours before, he accused China of violating the terms of the trade deal it made with the United States last month. Over the weekend, there was no call with Xi, so I have to figure we just resume Friday's decline from the get-go, barring something positive from the president about American business. Although it's hard to predict what that could be. The funny thing is, I feel very alone writing this stuff, given how rarely it is talked about. But that's part of the overall mystique of the White House. What will happen to you if you speak up? How long will it take to produce a level of retribution to make you the Harvard of the S & P 500? Suffice it to say, there's no let-up in the derision of business and the uncertainty of it all. Sometimes, I pine for the previous administration as Biden knew so little about business that he didn't know who to hate, so he just hated everyone. Nevertheless, unlike Trump, he had ineffectual hatred. No premium. But no discount either. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
