MBLC Update – July 18

Dear Colleagues:

We’re taking every opportunity to keep the federal IMLS issue (especially databases) at the forefront for legislators—your help with that is making a difference and is greatly appreciated.

This week I testified at the State House at an invitation only hearing before the House Committee on Federal Funding, Policy and Accountability. It was an opportunity for libraries and others from the cultural sector to talk about the effect of federal policy changes and funding cuts on our organizations. I was joined by Boston Public Library President David Leonard and American Library Association President-Elect and Cambridge Public Library Director Maria McCauley. We worked together to give legislators the full impact of the federal crisis on libraries and library users in Massachusetts. Thank you, Maria and David, for your support and for your leadership. You can view our testimonies here: https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/5276

The hearing continues to get some great media coverage. Our testimonies were the lead story in State House News and more coverage is below:
NBC Boston
MassCreative
22News WWLP

More on Funding
As I mentioned last week, the MBLC continues to submit reimbursements to IMLS to try to get the federal funding that was approved  (and then stopped) for FY2025—on the federal timeline, FY2025 ends on September 30^th (unlike the state timeline in which FY2025 ended on July 30). We were able to use one small reimbursement to restore statewide membership to United for Libraries. Al Hayden just sent out notice that people can register for the upcoming virtual conference.

This is not an indicator that our FY2025 IMLS funding will be restored by September 30, nor does it mean that IMLS will be funded for FY2026. Like many state organizations that rely on federal funding (as we heard from many of our colleagues at this week’s hearing), we’re proceeding with extreme caution as we grapple with service cuts now and brace for potential further fallout from the recently passed federal budget and continued uncertainty about the future of IMLS.

Please continue to reach out with any questions you have. We appreciate your support.