Statement by The Seattle Public Library and the King County Library System
On the evening of Friday, March 14, a White House Executive Order was issued to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), among other federal agencies. IMLS is the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services. Its mission is to advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development.
IMLS funding represents less than 0.003% of the annual federal budget, but its impact on libraries, library workers, and library patrons throughout the U.S. is invaluable. The IMLS provides funding support, in big and small ways, for most of the nation’s 125,000 public, school, academic, and special libraries in all 50 states.
In Seattle and King County, the majority of funding for our public library systems is provided through local funds, including the City of Seattle General Fund, the voter-approved 2019 Library Levy, and King County property taxes. However, the IMLS has funded several important library initiatives in Seattle and King County over the years. Just some recent examples include:
- Supporting post-pandemic teen mental health programs in Seattle and across the U.S. for the last five years;
- Expanding Seattle’s access to Wi-Fi hotspots to help close the digital divide for underserved communities;
- Investing in hybrid meeting rooms to offer more connections to King County library patrons;
- Increasing King County patron access to real-time translation for customer service; and
- Enhancing access to library materials with 24/7 lockers in King County.
In addition to putting these types of programs at risk for library systems like ours, eliminating the IMLS would put important core services at risk for libraries serving rural, tribal, and underserved communities, both locally and nationally.
For example, as recently covered by KING5 News, the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library – which provides statewide library services for Washington residents who are unable to read standard print materials due to blindness, visual impairment, physical disability, or reading disability — relies heavily on IMLS funding.
In rural and tribal communities throughout the nation, the IMLS helps fund public access to e-books, research databases, internet access, and more.
Eliminating an agency as impactful as the IMLS is a step that should not be taken lightly. We hope that this will be reconsidered as Americans learn more about the resources, learning opportunities, and value the IMLS provides to U.S. communities.
Related Resources:
The American Library Association has provided additional information about the potential impacts of this executive order, and has shared several ways that library patrons can express their support for the IMLS and libraries throughout the U.S.