Dear Colleagues,
We received news this week that Rhode Island District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. issued an injunction to stop the dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) caused by President Trump’s Executive Order 14238 . The order calls for IMLS employees to be recalled to work and for processing and disbursements of grants to be resumed.
While this is good news, the MBLC continues to proceed with caution. Questions remain about federal compliance with this ruling and the outlook for federal funding for FY2026 is uncertain. As I have mentioned in previous updates, the MBLC is planning for FY2026 with no federal funding. That said, we cannot make up the federal funds via our state budget lines which are currently level funded in the FY26 budgets being debated at the State House.
On Tuesday, May 20, I will use the “State of the State” at the Massachusetts Library Association conference to make an announcement about statewide services that have been impacted by the uncertainty caused by Executive Order 14238. These services include statewide databases, the Commonwealth Catalog, and the statewide Library eBooks and Audiobooks (LEA) program powered by Libby.
After the State of the State, this information will be available at both the MBLC and MLS booths. It will also be emailed to the library community.
I have scheduled information sessions for people who are not able to be at MLA:
May 29, 2025 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/JxXK0CrKQz6OxdeAbE71yQ
May 30, 2025 09:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/veIYpCXdSXmM5EpD9_dYyg
I look forward to seeing you at the MLA conference or at one of the zoom information sessions. Please continue to reach out if you have questions anytime.
Sincerely,
Maureen Amyot
Director, Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners