Federal museum and library grants abruptly terminated

USA Today

06-05-2025

Federal museum and library grants abruptly terminated The Institute for Museum and Library Services ends grants used to train librarians and fund innovations.
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House Republicans narrowly approved a blueprint for President Trump's agenda, promising to find $1.5 trillion in cuts as part of the package.
President Trump's executive order to reduce the IMLS led to the terminations, despite Congressional funding for the programs.
The grants are funded by reimbursement, so many institutions are on the hook for money already spent.
Lawsuits have been filed to challenge the grant terminations, arguing they violate Congressional intent.
Dozens of federal grants held by libraries, archives and museums nationwide have been terminated mid-year ‒ in some cases after the money was already spent.
The Institute for Museum and Library Services has ended many grants in its Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program and the National Leadership Grants programs, according to the American Library Association. These grants provide training for librarians and fund projects aiming to innovate in the field. They are funded through reimbursement after they are completed, leaving institutions whose grants were abruptly terminated on the hook for the money they have already spent.
Those impacted include Native American students who had received scholarships to get a master's degree in library sciences, said American Library Association president Cindy Hohl.
Recipients from the Institute's other grant programs also reported losing funding, including the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City.
"It's really hard to make heads or tails of this," Hohl said. "These are meaningful programs to Americans."
AFGE Local 3403, a branch of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement that grant recipients across the country are reporting that their funding was immediately terminated overnight by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
IMLS and acting director Keith Sonderling did not respond to requests for comment.
According to the IMLS' database, the agency issued 633 grants to museums, libraries and states in fiscal 2024 totaling $269.5 million. Of that, $9.1 million went to 34 libraries in the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program and $24.5 million to 74 libraries and museums in the National Leadership Grants programs.
The Laura Bush Librarian program grants support training for librarians and archivists. The National Leadership grants support museum and library projects aimed at addressing broad needs within the field that can be replicated at other museums, archives and libraries. For example, past leadership grants have studied AI adoption and disaster preparedness.
The American Library Association and the Association of Research Librarians each had all their grants cancelled as well. The associations have sent notices to libraries involved in grant-funded projects to pause.
Congress supported the agency for 29 years
The Institute of Museum and Library Services distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in congressionally approved funds to state libraries in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and to library, museum, and archives programs through grants. It serves 35,000 museums and 123,000 libraries across the country, according to its website.
On March 14, President Donald Trump issued an executive order eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services 'to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.'
The order states that the Institute must be reduced to its "statutory functions.' It also requires that 'non-statutory components and functions … shall be eliminated.'
Trump could not directly shut down the Institute, which was created by a Republican-led Congress in 1996 to combine the services of two decades-old government agencies. Both grant programs are listed in the original bill creating the agency. They were fully funded by Congress in March.
Trump repeatedly called on Congress to close the agency during his first term, but was rebuffed by a Democratic-led Congress who renewed it in 2018. The agency is again up for renewal in the fall.
More: Latest Trump cuts put summer reading, mobile libraries and local museums in jeopardy
IMLS was effectively shuttered in early April when nearly all employees were placed on administrative leave, and all work on approving federal grants for state, local and academic libraries and museums was immediately halted.
California's, Connecticut's and Washington's State Librarians offices confirmed to USA TODAY that their grants had been ended six months early. All three mentioned diversity and equity in their grant applications and so far they appear to be the only cancelled state contracts. The bulk of IMLS grant funding goes to state librarians who largely use it to pay for resources that are available to all libraries in the state, such as eBooks, database access or summer reading programs.
Other states, including Maine, Mississippi and Texas, have paused spending their grants while the future of the statewide grants remains unclear.
Museums and libraries that received individual grants to help them with one-time projects like building new exhibits or purchasing bookmobiles have also put their projects on hold.
"I wouldn't be surprised to hear that additional grant programs are going to be withdrawn,' she said.
Turning to the courts
On April 7, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Aman Library Association sued to stop the Trump administration's efforts to gut the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The complaint argues that cutting IMLS programs violates the law by eliminating programs Congress has provided funding for and directed IMLS to undertake. On April 10, they requested a preliminary injunction preventing the Institute from cutting off grants.
"IMLS must continue to honor appropriated and statutory programs and grants as Congress intended. All members of Congress must listen to their constituents and speak up for the value of public libraries and the essential services they provide in every state," the Association for Rural and Small Libraries, the Public Library Association (a division of the American Library Association) and the Urban Libraries Council said in a joint statement.
In early April, 21 state attorneys general sued in federal courts to stop the IMLS cuts as well.
'No longer serves the interest of the United States'
Kathleen Reckling, CEO of ArtsWestchester, a Westchester County, New York-based organization that distributes grants to non-profits in the suburbs north of New York City, said she received a letter from Sonderling on Wednesday at 10:07 p.m. 'to let us know that our current IMLS grant is officially terminated.'
The grant was a two-year $195,000 award allocated in 2023 by the previous administration that has supported a community-driven, paid training program for emerging arts and cultural leaders representing communities in Westchester.
'It funded our Westchester Heritage Ambassador program, which according to the attached termination letter is a program that 'no longer serves the interest of the United States,'' she said.
'Our initial cohort represented the Ecuadorian, Paraguayan, and Ghanaian populations in our county,' Reckling said. 'These communities have historically been underserved and underrepresented in the arts and culture sector. Their final projects included the creation of public arts and cultural programs to be presented in 2025 to Westchester audiences.'
The cancellation left $60,000 of the remaining grant undisbursed.
World War I records
The National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City also received a letter terminating it's $250,000 grant to digitize camp newspapers, posters and maps, said Karis Erwin, vice president of marketing and guest services. The money was part of a Museums for America grant, IMLS' largest grant that is meant to help museums make substantial improvements or changes to their collections or operations.
They had already been reimbursed $41,700 and billed the government for an additional $31,275 worth of work completed in the last few months, she said.
'I don't think we are counting on receiving that. I think our assumption is that what we have received in payment is what we'll receive,' Erwin said.
The Museum, one of the largest repositories of World War I information, had finished digitizing camp newspapers and had sent the poster collection off before receiving the letter terminating the funding. That means the posters and maps are one hold, which Erwin called unfortunate because maps are the number one item researchers ask to access.
'While we have put this project on pause temporarily we certainly will seek out other funding sources and continue it somehow,' she said.