14-06-2025
Biblioracle: The Institute of Museum and Library Service may lose funding. Here's why that's important.
A couple of weeks ago, for the first time in her life, Mrs. Biblioracle got a library card.
The impetus for the choice was a tip from her book club that you can listen to audiobooks for free (something possible through services like Libby and Overdrive), but once a member, she was introduced to additional benefits, including free access to the New York Times, which meant we no longer had to fight over the Wordle.
Of course, there are numerous other benefits, including admission to county parks and some local museums. You can check out a computer if yours is on the fritz. You can book a meeting room or get any book you can think of through interlibrary loan.
Also, telescopes. You can check out a honking big telescope.
The reason why Mrs. Biblioracle did not previously have a library card should be obvious: Her partner (me) has enough books in the house to stock a small, but robust library. By virtue of a previous academic appointment, I maintain access to an institutional academic library covering my needs.
Even though Mrs. Biblioracle and I have not been directly interacting with our public library all that much, we remain staunch supporters and believers in libraries as vital parts of a functioning, shared, thriving society.
Unfortunately, there is a significant threat to not just libraries but public museums in the currently proposed federal budget, which aims to almost zero-out something called the Institute of Museum and Library Service.
The IMLS had already been a casualty of the Department of Government Efficiency cuts back in March, cuts which were halted at least temporarily after state attorneys general sued and temporary restraining orders were issued. But the proposed 2026 budget obviates those suits, reducing IMLS funding from $313 million to $6 million.
The number of things that the IMLS does is almost impossible to list. They give grants that make institutions such as zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and, of course, libraries capable of providing programming to the public. In some cases, these grants are the difference between being able to keep the doors open and not existing.
The IMLS is also home to the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, which provides for the training and development of library professionals and working archivists. In recent years, the IMLS has also been at the forefront of investigating the 'digital divide' and increasing access to broadband services for poor and rural communities. They provide a literal line to the online world.
While $313 million may seem like a lot, this amount is literally spread across all 50 states and more than 150,000 libraries and museums. As Kelly Jensen points out, writing at Book Riot, this amount is 0.005% of the overall federal budget.
I'm going to confess that until recently, I had no idea the IMLS existed because why would I? This is one of the innumerable governmental bodies that churns away doing stuff Congress has decided is worth funding, allowing for things like visits from authors to libraries or new exhibits at museums to happen. It's impossible to know which institutions might be threatened with closure, but every institution's operations would undoubtedly be degraded.
This budget proposal is exactly that, a proposal. I hope it doesn't come to fruition, and it's a reminder to maybe be a bit more aware of how different interconnected systems work to provide services and opportunities I've come to take for granted.
As Joni Mitchell once said, 'Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you got 'til it's gone.'
John Warner is the author of books including 'More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.' You can find him at
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you've read.
1. 'The One and Only Ivan' by Katherine Applegate
2. 'Mad Honey' by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
3. 'Uprooted' by Naomi Novik
4. 'In This Grave Hour' by Jacqueline Winspear
5. 'Life Sentences' by Billy O'CallaghanAlways pleased to find a good occasion to recommend this book by Chicago writer Kathleen Rooney: 'Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk.'
1. 'Honor' by Thrity Umrigar
2. 'The Sellout' by Paul Beatty
3. 'James' by Percival Everett
4. 'Heat and Light' by Jennifer Haigh
5. 'High Dive' by Jonathan LeeI think 'Chain-Gang All-Stars' by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah will be an exciting read for Kathleen.
1. 'Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road' by Neil Peart
2. 'My Effin' Life' by Geddy Lee
3. 'The Wide, Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook' by Hampton Sides
4. 'In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the U.S.S. Jennette' by Hampton Sides
5. 'The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom' by Larry LoftisI've got just the book for Cliff, a story of seafaring and history: 'Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II' by Robert Kurson.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you've read and your hometown to biblioracle@
