Originally sent to WIRED-MT Listserv on Thursday, April 3
Dear friends,
News hit social media last night (April 2) the Institute of Museum and Library Services has canceled the Grants to States program which is the grant program that funds our library development work. While this statement is not entirely accurate, the future of our Grants to States funding is at significant risk. As of this writing, three states, Washington, California, and Connecticut have received formal letters from IMLS stating that their current grants have been terminated effective April 1. It's possible that a fourth states has received a similar letter, but that information is unconfirmed. We expect more letters to follow. According to a Fox news outlet, these states’ funds were terminated because they were being used to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Montana has NOT received a termination notice at this time, but we are taking prudent steps to prepare for that possibility. Our current award for $1.4M was made last April 2, 2024 and we have spent approximately 75% of the award with plans to spend the full award by June 30, 2025.
If our current FY 24 federal funds are terminated our top priority is to be prepared to fund essential operations and staff through June. We have directed staff to cease all non-emergency expenditures, including travel. This includes travel for spring federation meetings which we will attend online.
Our second priority focuses on what happens if we do not receive our federal FY 25 or 26 awards. We are in communication with the Governor’s Office and they have asked us to keep them apprised if/when we receive a termination letter.
If the worst happens and we must make permanent cuts, we would do so as part of the process to build our FY 26 budget which would go into effect July 1, 2025. The process to build such a budget that includes needed cuts would include MSL leadership, the Commission, the Union, and key stakeholders including libraries. I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that, but we will be prepared if it does.
I want to express my appreciation to the Commission who have reached out to the Governor’s Office and our congressional delegation already today. Others have asked what they can do to help. Communicating with these offices about the importance of this funding is more important than ever.
We understand how imbedded many services, like the Shared Catalog, are to the day-to-day operations of libraries so we appreciate how stressful this situation is for everyone, not just those of us at MSL. The State Library has had to manage significant budget cuts before. We can guarantee that libraries will be included in any conversations involving programs libraries rely on. Finally, there is a human toll to these actions – right now the stress that uncertainty weighs heavy on all of us. The threats to peoples' jobs and livelihoods are real and we are deeply troubled by how people are being treated.
Additional Information
The federal government has been a consistent source of funds for libraries since the Library Services Act (LSA) was enacted in 1956 during the Eisenhower administration with the purpose of promoting public library development in rural areas. Currently, MSL receives $1.4M through the Grants to State Program. Grants to States funding provides 30 to 50% of State Libraries’ funding across the country. For Montana, its approximately 17%.
MSL uses our Grants to States award to fund our consulting, lifelong learning, and continuing education programs to support Montana libraries around the state. These monies also fund the Montana History Portal, our talking book services, and provide significant amounts of funding for the Montana Shared Catalog, MontanaLibrary2Go, the OCLC Group Services contract, the courier, government information preservation, and the staff that support these programs. More information about how the MSL spends our Grants to States funding is online through our LSTA Dashboard, LSTA Financial Reports, and our FY 23 one-page report.
A March 14 presidential executive order directed IMLS and other agencies to explain which components or functions of the governmental entity, if any, are statutorily required and to what extent. The Grants to States Program is established in Statute (Section 231(a) (20 U.S.C. 9141(a)). Funding for Grant to States program was most recently (re-)authorized as part of the Museum and Library Services Act (MSLA) of 2018.
Also, on March 14 Congress passed a full-year Continuing Resolution through September 30, 2025. On March 18 we received information from IMLS stating that notwithstanding outside guidance, they expect the FY 2025 allotments to be similar to last year’s allotments ($1.4M for Montana). IMLS expects to issue these awards by April 22. If the outside review takes longer than expected, IMLS will communicate to about issuing partial awards of approximately 50% in April. We were also told that unless IMLS receives additional guidance, it’s reasonable to assume that the 2025 award must be spent by September 30, 2026. This communication is the most current communication we have received from IMLS about our funding award however all of this information may change if we receive a termination notice.
On April 1 staff at the IMLS were put on administrative leave for up to 90 days.
Please let me know if I can answer additional questions.
Jennie Stapp (she/her), State Librarian
|
