Vermont's libraries and museums targeted by Trump Administration funding cuts: What we know
The directors of Vermont's museums and libraries are anxiously waiting to learn the fate of their federal funding as the Trump Administration continues to slash agencies including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which provides funding directly to the state.
On March 14, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled "Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy," calling for an immediate defunding of seven governmental entities. The IMLS is on the list.
Also on the list are:
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service;The United States Agency for Global Media;The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution;The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness;The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund; andThe Minority Business Development Agency.
State Librarian Catherine Delneo said Tuesday it could be days or weeks until she learns the fate of $1.2 million in funding IMLS provided Vermont in 2024, which will be included in a report that the IMLS has been ordered to produce, saying to what degree they're going to reduce the "non-statutory components and functions" of their operations.
Trump wants those functions cut "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law," according to the executive order, and also wants the seven governmental entities to "reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law."
"We reached out to the program manager yesterday," Delneo said. "They don't have anything to share right now. The new acting director will be submitting the report. We're waiting for the exact impact."
On March 24, the National Museums and Library Services Board sent a letter to IMLS Acting Director Keith Sonderling, noting the March 14 executive order, and saying, "It is our considered determination that the Museum and Library Services Act of 2018, as codified in Title 20 of the U.S. Code, outlines specific statutory mandates that cannot be paused, reduced or eliminated without violating Congressional intent and federal statute."
Among those mandates, the letter continues, are grants for library services − the $1.2 million the state relies on for a variety of services provided to Vermonters.
Without the federal funding, Delneo said the interlibrary loan service would cease to exist. More than 200 libraries in the state participate in the service, and last year more than 90,000 items were moved around the state, thanks to the service.
"You go to your local library and they don't have a fly-fishing book," she said. "They call another library and say 'Hey, you're located near good fly-fishing, do you have a book?' Every library doesn't have every cookbook or every novel. We share the resources."
Online databases maintained by the library system that generated more than 500,000 searches last year would also be jeopardized by defunding IMLS, according to Delneo, who said the library online services include a "learning platform."
"(The learning platform is) pretty popular among folks trying to learn skills for jobs and hobbies," she said.
Federal funding pays a portion of the salaries of 16 out of 18 staff members who work for the Vermont Department of Libraries.
"I'm sure you can understand how frustrating it is to sit here waiting for them to tell us what is going to happen," Delneo said. "I'm hopeful they'll agree grants to states is necessary and important to fully fund."
Stephen Perkins, executive director of the Vermont Historical Society said his organization currently has two active grants with IMLS − one to fund a COVID-19 oral history project and the other to fund a local history training program.
Perkins said Tuesday that federal reimbursement for the COVID-19 project did come in that day, but that the money for the training program is still in question.
"We've received funds to fund the (training) project through the middle of April," he said. "Beyond that I don't know and I don't have a lot of confidence in it being funded going forward."
Hannah Kirkpatrick, a recent University of Vermont graduate with a master's degree in public history, was hired in October for the planned two-year training program. She has been traveling the state, helping local historical societies and museums implement good museum practices, and making sure artifacts and historical documents being held all over Vermont are being handled properly, and tell a story.
"An added benefit is the program is also designed to train young pros in the field of archives, museums and history," Perkins said.
The COVID-19 project resulted in a book, edited by veteran journalist Garrett Graff, which went on sale on Tuesday, and a podcast series that will launch on Friday
"We worked on it for three years," Perkins said of the COVID-19 project. "Oral historians conducted and recorded hours and hours of firsthand testimonies. It was everyone from (Health Department Director) Dr. Levine down to a private citizen affected at a very personal level. We interviewed vaccine skeptics and those involved in the creation of the vaccine. We need to collect this (information) in real time for the future. If it happens again, how do we learn from it?"
Contact Dan D'Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont museums, libraries await news of federal funding cuts
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


American Military News
19 minutes ago
- American Military News
700 Marines deployed to Los Angeles amid major riots
President Donald Trump's administration deployed 700 Marines to Los Angeles and the surrounding area on Monday in response to the city's massive riots against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. In a Monday press release, U.S. Northern Command announced that it had activated the Marine infantry battalion that the Trump administration 'placed in an alert status over the weekend.' 'Approximately 700 Marines with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division will seamlessly integrate with the Title 10 forces under Task Force 51 who are protecting federal personnel and federal property in the greater Los Angeles area,' U.S. Northern Command stated. 'The activation of the Marines is intended to provide Task Force 51 with adequate numbers of forces to provide continuous coverage of the area in support of the lead federal agency.' According to the press release, Task Force 51 includes 700 active-duty Marines and roughly 2,100 National Guardsmen in Title 10 status. Northern Command noted that members of Task Force 51 have been trained in 'de-escalation, crowd control, and standing rules for the use of force.' 'Due to increased threats to federal law enforcement officers and federal buildings, approximately 700 active-duty U.S. Marines from Camp Pendleton are being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order,' Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. 'We have an obligation to defend federal law enforcement officers – even if Gavin Newsom will not.' READ MORE: Videos: 500 Marines ready to deploy to Los Angeles amid major riots Northern Command confirmed in the press release that there were roughly 1,700 soldiers from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Los Angeles and the surrounding area as of Monday. On Monday evening, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Sean Parnell tweeted, 'At the order of the President, the Department of Defense is mobilizing an additional 2,000 California National Guard to be called into federal service to support ICE & to enable federal law-enforcement officers to safely conduct their duties.' According to The Associated Press, Trump's authorization for the Department of Defense to deploy an additional 2,000 National Guardsmen in response to the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles brings the total number of National Guardsmen mobilized by the federal government in response to the riots to over 4,100. In a Tuesday morning statement on Truth Social, Trump said, 'If I didn't 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now, much like 25,000 houses burned to the ground in L.A. do to an incompetent Governor and Mayor.'


CNBC
23 minutes ago
- CNBC
Why Elon Musk turned against Trump's $5 trillion mega tax and spending bill
President Donald Trump is pushing to pass a sweeping tax and spending bill by July 4, but the proposal is already sparking fierce internal GOP debate. The bill combines 2017 tax cut extensions with new Trump-era proposals, including deductions on American-made auto loans and changes to child tax credits. But not everyone is on board. Elon Musk has launched a high-profile feud with Trump over the bill, and key Republican senators are warning that the bill could add trillions to the national debt.

USA Today
24 minutes ago
- USA Today
About 100 National Endowment for the Humanities employees laid off, union says
About 100 National Endowment for the Humanities employees laid off, union says About 2/3 of National Endowment for the Humanities employees were laid off Tuesday. The agency plans to issue half of the number of grants next year Show Caption Hide Caption Active-duty marines deployed for Los Angeles anti-ICE protests President Donald Trump is sending in active-duty Marines to assist law enforcement with immigration protests in Los Angeles, California. Approximately two-thirds of the staff at the National Endowment for the Humanities will lose their jobs when their "reduction in force" goes into effect June 10, according to their union, the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403. "A major agency restructuring is underway without the appropriate planning needed to ensure the continuity of operations," the local said in a statement. "These drastic changes … represent an existential threat to those institutions and individuals who rely on support from NEH to research, preserve, and interpret our shared heritage. The agency's employees were not part of the lawsuit that currently has other reduction in force efforts on hold. The National Endowment for the Humanities did not respond to a request for comment. Less than 60 employees are expected to remain. The agency has a $207 million budget to fund humanities programs such as history, law, literature, philosophy, and linguistics. In early April, NEH terminated more than 1,000 existing grants, including one for the National History Day competition and grants for state humanities councils in all 50 states. The agency has already quietly posted that roughly half of its funding opportunities will not be offered in the next fiscal year or will no longer be offered at all. Among the grants that the agency will no longer offer next year are awards specifically for faculty at Hispanic-serving institutions, tribal institutions, training for K-12 and higher education teachers and studies on endangered languages and the experiences of war. The preserved grants include projects for the country's 250th anniversary, including a statue garden of famous Americans.