NEWS RELEASE

On March 14, 2025 President Trump signed Executive Order 14238 eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." IMLS is the single largest source of critical federal funding for libraries. Through IMLS' Grants to States Program, for FY2025 the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) was allocated $3.6 million to support statewide library services and grants to local libraries. In the weeks that followed the executive order, IMLS staff were placed on administrative leave and in the President’s FY2026 budget, IMLS is eliminated (pg. 39 under Small Agency Eliminations).

At the annual Massachusetts Library Association conference, MBLC Director Maureen Amyot addressed the impact of ongoing federal uncertainty caused by the executive order and spoke about the MBLC’s efforts to preserve as many federally funded statewide services as possible. Director Amyot announced the FY2026 plan for statewide research databases, the statewide eBook program, and the Commonwealth Catalog.

"The federal impact cannot be overstated. In Massachusetts, over 1,600 school, public, academic and special libraries from across the state benefit from federal IMLS funding. Millions of people rely on federally funded library services,” she said. "Developing a plan for services in an environment of almost daily federal change has been challenging, but our goal has remained constant: to maintain services that are integral to the functioning of our system and heavily relied on by the people of the Commonwealth."

Starting on July 1, 2025, statewide research database offerings will be significantly reduced. However, the MBLC and the Massachusetts Library System (MLS), which jointly fund databases, will maintain several of the most heavily used. The MBLC spends close to $2.2 million of its federal allocation to fund statewide research databases, an amount that cannot be made up in state funding. For FY2026, the eBook content grant to Networks from MBLC’s state line 9506 will likely be funded at $500,000*, which will allow for $500,000 funding in that line to go towards databases. MLS will increase its support for databases by $18,575 to a total of $670,575. Overall, combined database funding from MBLC and MLS will go from $2.8 million to $1.17 million.

"The President has determined that the Institute of Museum and Library Services is 'unnecessary.' But we know the opposite to be true. We know that welcoming ALL, including diverse voices in our collections, and providing free and equitable access to library services make public libraries the cornerstone of a free democratic society,” said Director Amyot. "Libraries change people’s lives. That’s why these reductions in critical library services hurt. But we’re in this for the long game and in the year ahead we’ll continue to work with local, state and federal partners to stabilize library funding and services."

Databases provide every Massachusetts resident with trustworthy online content covering topics such as science, health, history, biographies and more. Last year, there were over 9 million full text downloads from research databases, an increase of 12% in just one year. Sixty percent of database usage comes from schools. The chart below details which databases will be available as of July 1, 2025.

Many factors were considered in determining which databases to maintain. The expedited timeline did not allow for direct input from the library community, but database usage was a major consideration. Providing databases that support students at every level of learning: elementary, middle, high school, and to some extent college, was also a key factor. In addition, the MBLC has a statutory obligation to provide general reference.

Support for the statewide Library eBooks and audiobooks (LEA) program will continue. The Libby eBook platform that allows eBooks to be shared across the state will be fully funded from the state budget. The state funded eBook content grant will likely be funded at $500,000*. Residents borrowed close to two million eBooks and audiobooks through LEA last year, an increase of 19% in just one year.

Full funding for the Commonwealth Catalog (ComCat) will also continue for FY2026. ComCat gives Massachusetts residents access to millions of items that their own library network doesn’t have. More than 103,000 items were borrowed through ComCat last year.

Maintaining these services comes with the elimination of services that were announced in April and the MBLC anticipates announcing further reductions in the coming weeks.

In Massachusetts there were 28 million visits to public libraries last year and people borrowed more than 59 million items. Since 1996, federal funding from IMLS has been essential in ensuring the Commonwealth’s residents have equitable access to library services regardless of geographic location, social or economic status, age, level of physical or intellectual ability, or cultural background.

*Commissioners will vote on the eBook content grant in September 2025