The Library Board met 04/15/2025. One of the information items they received was an update on the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
President Trump’s “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” Executive Order directs the elimination of all of the institute’s non-statutory components and functions and the reduction of its workforce to the minimum number of personnel required to perform its statutory functions. Nation-wide, multiple grants through IMLS have been terminated and the reduction of IMLS and the termination of grants are now the subject of a court case.
Library Executive Director Colleen Rortvedt told the Library Board “[N]othing really huge to report, except the proposed elimination is still out there.” She directed board members to the website MyWisconsinLibrary.org which she said explained the importance of the IMLS to state and local libraries and what funding it provided.
Director Rortvedt said that some libraries had said that they were going to lose Hoopla as a result of this action, but she said Appleton was not going to because it does not use IMLS funds for Hoopla.
It was not clear from the update how or if the reduction/closure of IMLS was going to impact Appleton, but Director Rortvedt general frustration with the proposed elimination saying, “[T]he things that it provides are things that are really important for efficiencies of scale.” She said that the IMLS allowed the interlibrary loan service, the BadgerLink databases, and “many robuse electronic resources.” Additionally, the reduction of IMLS could result in the loss of hot spots in libraries, professional development, and grants. [It was not clear from the presentation why all of these services were tied to IMLS and why they could not continue even if IMLS was shut down.]
She said that some states had received letters saying that their funding had been immediately frozen, but Wisconsin had not received such a letter yet.
Board President Margaret Mann said she assumed there were some museums in the area that were probably impacted by this, and Director Rortvedt responded affirmatively.
Ms. Mann finished the update by saying, “Got the website, right? Get the information. You know what to do.”
[I honestly have no idea what Margaret Mann meant when she said, “You know what to do.”
I went to the website and it provides incredibly general and undetailed information about what the IMLS does and why its closure would be bad. I get the general impression that the IMLS is a slush fund that gives money out to libraries. I would have appreciated knowing how much money Wisconsin libraries receive through the IMLS, what specifically that money is used for, and why those services cannot be paid for in via different funding source if they are well utilized, but that information was not posted on the website.
Likewise, I was hoping this update would detail how much the Appleton Public Library received in IMLS funds, what those funds were paying for, what sort of services the library was going to lose as a result, and what steps could be taken to maintain well utilized services, but none of that information was presented.]
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1263618&GUID=81EBBAE3-2471-43FD-83D9-D2F16A2A1CFD
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