[CASL-L] Fwd: Elimination of IMLS

[Barbara Johnson]

*Barbara Johnson*
*Instructional Technology Coordinator*
Colchester Public Schools

Please share this email among your networks.

Hello Library Advocates,

It is with a great deal of sadness that I am asking you to respond to
Trump/Musk recent cuts which now are eliminating most of the Institute of
Museum and Library Services. As you may know, IMLS manages a significant
amount of public library funding through the Library Services and
Technology Act (LSTA) to each state. It also manages a variety of
competitive grants including the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian grants
that over the years has funded many librarian education programs, the SLIDE
project (https://libslide.org) , and the Urban School Library Project that
I am currently working on with the School District of Philadelphia. In a
two-year IMLS planning grant we were hoping to research and develop a
long-range plan to restore school librarians and library services to the
118,000 students in the District where there are only 5 school librarians
and only a handful of volunteer libraries. But this is just one of many
worthy (and competitive) projects funded by IMLS—projects impacting
students, teachers, libraries across the nation. You can read more that
IMLS does in the ALA Statement at
https://www.ala.org/news/2025/03/ala-statement-white-house-assault-institute-museum-and-library-services

ACTION REQUESTED

Call your federal legislators - (202) 224-3121 for the U.S. Capitol
switchboard.

Or, go to https://action.everylibrary.org/emailreps to send emails. Edit
the message to tell your federal legislators how important federal funding
for libraries is. Here are some talking points you can include (although
more can be found at
https://www.ala.org/news/2025/03/ala-statement-white-house-assault-institute-museum-and-library-services
)

·         Our nation’s 125,000 public, school, academic and special
libraries only receive 0.003% of the federal budget for programs and
services used by more than 1.2 billion people every year.

·         Early literacy development and grade-level reading programs

   - Summer reading programs for kids

·         Support education and training programs for people seeking to
become librarians

·         Award competitive grants to impact library services for our
neediest student and community populations.

Thank you for your support of libraries. Deb

“Libraries remind us that truth isn't about who yells the loudest, but who
has the right information.” Barack Obama


-- 


*Debra E Kachel *Affiliate Faculty, Antioch University Seattle
K-12 Library Media Endorsement Program
<http://www.antiochseattle.edu/academics/school-of-education/teaching-endorsements/library-media/>
717-575-3886
2014 AASL Distinguished Service Recipient
*School Library Advocacy LibGuide
<https://antiochlis.libguides.com/schlibcert/schlibadvocacy>*

*...Advocating for strong school library programs*


*Reading:*

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