21-05-2025
Alabama Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled officials fear federal cuts
The Alabama Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled Consumer Advisory Committee met on May 20. The members discussed federal funding cuts and potential dismantling of the service that serves about 7,000 impaired Alabamians. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled (ALBPD) serves about 7,000 Alabamians with free audio and books in braille.
BPD officials fear that could all go away if the Trump administration continues to make funding cuts to the National Library Service.
The ALBPD is part of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). IMLS received federal funding, which is funded federally, meaning the state does not give any funds to the accessibility sect of APLS. In March, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order in March to dissolve the small agency.
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Kelyn Ralya, the interim director of the Alabama Public Library Service, told members of the BPD Consumer Advisory Committee Tuesday that the agency cut its staffing from 77 employees to 12 this spring.
'That's quite a cut there,' Ralya said. 'Some of the folks that we know are still there, and so we at least have a good contact there.'
Beyond national leadership changes, Rhonda Napier, the regional librarian, said she is most worried about federal funding cuts. Ralya told the committee that federal grants were split into two distributions this year. She said they received the first part and are supposed to receive the second half soon.
Twenty-one states sued the Trump administration in March in an attempt to delay funding cuts to IMLS and other smaller agencies. A federal judge stalled the dismantling of the agencies through the lawsuit on May 7, according to NPR.
'I do believe that department has been dismantled, or that's what they're going for,' Ralya said. 'I'm not sure if it's like that, as in, the funding goes to another source. We just don't know that yet.'
Without grants from IMLS, Napier said, the ALBPD would disappear.
'Which means all of this goes away,' Napier said in an interview after the meeting, gesturing to long rows of shelves that have books in braille and audiobook tapes.
Napier said the service sends out tapes and book readers to its patrons for free, just like going to an in-person library with physical books. Each tape can hold up to eight books and plugs into the readers via USB port, which she said is a more modern version of a cassette tape.
The library has a diverse selection of genres, from children's books to textbooks on statistics. She said there are services that will translate books into braille, but it isn't free like the library. She said the same of audiobook services like Audible and Spotify.
'All of it is paid for. This is a completely free service,' she said. 'Audible, obviously, you have to pay for it, you have to download their software and install it. None of that occurs here.'
Ralya also talked about the recent firing of the Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, along with the assistant director and the director of the copyright office. Todd Blanche, who represented Donald Trump during his 2024 criminal trial, replaced Hayden.
'That is very disturbing,' Penny Moss, vice chair of the committee said.
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