Libraries and museums are crucial community spaces that support the local economy through not only direct employment and tourism dollars but also social connection and well-being. Libraries offer educational resources, internet access, and public health connections to jobseekers, families, and children, and museums preserve our artifacts and our history to help us understand our past and prepare us for the future. But maintaining and growing these institutions requires funding that goes beyond the price of admission or local tax dollars.
A small federal government agency, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is crucial in supporting the staffing, programming, and archival work of libraries and museums. The IMLS, which accounts for only 0.0046 percent of the federal budget, is not as well-known as other larger agencies, but it supports museums and libraries through research and funding. In 2024, the IMLS provided $276 million in grant funding to libraries and museums across the US.
Despite this crucial work, a recent executive order called for the agency to be dismantled to the maximum extent allowed by law. If IMLS funds and programs disappear, museums and libraries nationwide will lose staff and capacity, and we may lose portions of our national heritage.
The IMLS supports museums and libraries in every state
The IMLS runs a range of grant programs (19 listed on its website) supporting institutions and professional development. Its largest grant program is the Grants to State Library Administrative Agencies program, which allotted $180 million in 2024. These formula-based grants support a variety of initiatives, including electronic database and e-book access, reading programs, collection digitization, and outreach across 59 states and territories. State organizations use these funds to support thousands of projects: 1,130 in 2022.
The IMLS also makes grants directly, awarding 3,383 grants to 1,872 institutions in 932 communities from 2020 to 2024. Grants programs support children and teenagers, adult learners and senior citizens, jobseekers and local businesses. Programs, such as the Inspire! Grants for Small Museums program, support emerging museums, archives, and libraries, and the Collections Assessment for Preservation and Digital Humanities Advancement Grant programs support physical and virtual archives and collections.
These grants are modest: an average of $160,000 in 2024. Grants go to libraries and museums in communities across the US, and subgrants from state libraries increase the reach even further.
Through IMLS grants, libraries have innovated new ways to serve their communities. The Civic Switchboard Project helped public and academic libraries improve access to data about the conditions and resources in their communities, with clear success stories nationwide.
In Baltimore, the University of Baltimore’s academic library and the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance were able to coach college students to tell richer stories about local neighborhoods by combining archival library records with current data about housing, health, and other topics. In Indianapolis, the public library collaborated with Indiana University’s Polis Center and the local NPR station to present statistics about COVID-19 and its effects on employment and housing to the public.
Based on the national lessons from projects like these, the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information, Pittsburgh’s public and university library systems, the regional open data portal, and the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership developed a guide and held workshops for libraries across the country to make community data available and understandable to the public.
The IMLS has also maintained data on the role of libraries in the US through its Public Libraries Survey. Running since 1988, the survey collects data from around 9,000 libraries and is used to inform planning, evaluation, and needs in the field. Similarly, the IMLS launched the National Museum Survey in January 2025. The IMLS has used its data and research to better understand the challenges libraries and museums face. The Urban Institute has supported these efforts through an evaluation of the African American History and Culture grants program and research to inform the development of the American Latino History and Culture program.
The IMLS supports civic infrastructure and preserves American heritage
IMLS grants have helped build a stronger, richer network of civic assets throughout the US. If the agency is dismantled, local resources may cover some lost funding—particularly in areas with more resources—but smaller institutions and those in poorer, more rural communities will be the hardest hit. Existing institutions won’t be the only ones affected either: emerging museums and libraries will also be stifled, and our understanding of the needs and successes of libraries and museums, supported by IMLS research, will be lost.
The role of the IMLS in supporting civic infrastructure is easy to miss, but it protects American communities, preserves their stories, and supports our shared heritage.
Thank you to LesLeigh Ford, Jennifer Yahner, and Kathryn Pettit for their review and contributions.
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