The first true public library in the United States dates back to 1790 with the formation of The Franklin Public Library in Franklin, Massachusetts, while the Steilacoom Library, established in 1858, is recognized as Washington State’s first public library.
Since then, public libraries have become important, integral pillars of the communities they serve. In recent months, the library system in the United States has become the subject of a systematic dismantling.
From Washington, D.C. to the very Pacific edge of Washington state, funding cuts and firings have affected numerous programs, services and personnel across the board. The termination of employees in other federal agencies has also had an effect on library programs.
On March 14, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order directing the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to significantly reduce its operations. According to its website, the IMLS “is an independent federal agency that supports libraries, archives and museums in all 50 states and U.S. territories.”
That executive order touched off a firestorm within national, state and local library systems with countless employees losing or fearing for their jobs.
However, on Tuesday, Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by 21 states’ attorneys general, including Washington, against President Donald Trump and members of his Administration for actions taken to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
That injunction orders the Trump Administration to not implement President Trump’s March 14 executive order to eliminate IMLS, and to reverse all steps the agency previously had taken to implement the executive order; not to take further actions to eliminate IMLS; to restore IMLS employees and contractors who were placed on leave or terminated; and not to cancel grants, and to resume processing of payments, to grantees in the 21 plaintiff states.
Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress, was abruptly fired last week. The head of the U.S. Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, was also let go.
This welcome message penned by Hayden is still up on the Library of Congress’ website:
“The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. The Library preserves and provides access to a rich, diverse and enduring source of knowledge to inform, inspire and engage you in your intellectual and creative endeavors.”
Former Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has been named acting Librarian of Congress and Paul Perkins, an associate deputy attorney general and Justice Department attorney, has been installed as acting director of the Copyright Office.
Aberdeen’s Timberland Regional Library
Contrast that with the hyper-local library. Aberdeen’s Timberland Regional Library Librarian Janice Rabe said she has had to adjust her summer programming due to cuts to an unrelated federal agency.
“I have been working with someone from the Olympic National Forest on this awesome program. His name was Keith and he was a public affairs specialist. They were going to come out and talk about trees in the Quinault area and the trail system and the rainforest giants and harvest mushrooms — basically everything Northwest forest,” Rabe said. “On April 14, I got a notice from his director that he is no longer with the forest service and Olympic National Forests will no longer be able to provide any community engagement, education or outreach events for the remainder of the fiscal year. This has affected my job directly because I have to scramble to find more programs. I have, which is great, but I was really excited to build a partnership with the Olympic National Forest especially since Amanda Park Library is relevant.”
Cuts to federal money and jobs aren’t the only hardships affecting libraries. The Washington state budget, which was just passed at the conclusion of the most recent legislative session, is missing a key piece of library funding.
According to a press release issued by the Dolly Parton Imagination Library of Washington, “The final 2025–2027 operating budget for Washington state was released on April 26, 2025, with the legislative session officially concluding on Sunday, April 27. Despite earlier commitments made from the state in 2022, funding to expand the Imagination Library of Washington was not included in the final budget, which could impact over 121,000 children currently enrolled in the program.”
That press release states, “Founded by Dolly Parton in 1995 in honor of her father — who could not read or write — the Imagination Library is the flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation. The program provides children from birth to age five with a high-quality, age-appropriate book every month, at no cost to families, inspiring a love of reading and strengthening early literacy.”
“This is a heartbreaking loss to our team, our 46 local Imagination Library partners, and, most importantly, the 121,000 children across Washington, who receive the gift of a free book each month,” stated Brooke Fisher-Clark, Executive Director of Imagination Library of Washington.
Established as a statewide program in 2022, the Imagination Library of Washington became the first West Coast expansion and the 11th statewide program nationwide among the 21 existing statewide programs. Its public-private partnership model relies on a 50/50 funding match: 50% from the state and 50% from local Imagination Library partners. In 2022, Washington lawmakers affirmed their support through House Bill 2068, including vital funding for the program.
“We are deeply disappointed by Washington’s decision to withdraw from our partnership to expand Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library across the state,” stated Jeff Conyers, Vice Chair and President of The Dollywood Foundation. “The close of the budget session does not prevent Washington’s leaders from taking action to fund its portion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library as promised to the state’s children and families. We remain sincerely grateful for our partnership and hope that state leaders will find a path forward to honor this commitment.”
Rabe is also upset by the decision to essentially defund the Imagination Library.
“The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is really great, especially for rural families and kids who aren’t able to get into the library very often,” Rabe said. “They send out a free book to the kids who register every month and our state Legislature has decided that is not important for Washington state kids.”
NEA
Additionally, the Trump Administration has started canceling National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grants including Humanities Washington, which pays for speakers to participate in library programs. This will directly affect Aberdeen’s Timberland Regional Library programming as well.
Digital dying
According to a letter issued by Jude Guzzy, Cooperative Projects Librarian, Library Development, for the Washington State Library, the Washington Statewide Database Licensing (SDL) project is coming to end in its current form, which will require local libraries to strike their own deals with the vendor.
The letter reads, in part, “Due to the unexpected termination of our federal funding, the Washington State Library expects to bring this longstanding project to a close at the end of the current contract year (June 30, 2025). … SDL has been a cornerstone of statewide resource sharing for nearly 27 years. This program has provided consistent access to high-quality digital resources for libraries of all types across Washington, and we are deeply proud of the collaboration and impact it has enabled. Unfortunately, with the loss of federal support, we can no longer sustain the centralized licensing model that has underpinned the project. As a result, our partnership with the current SDL vendor, Gale Cengage, will also come to an end when the current contract expires. Gale will work directly with participating libraries and institutions to offer individual pricing going forward.”
On May 6, the Washington State Library conducted a First Tuesdays webinar titled Facing the Change: What the Loss of Federal Funding Means for Washington Libraries, which detailed numerous potential program cuts and job losses. During the webinar, Washington State Library Training Coordinator Brianna Hoffman discussed the ever-shifting sands of court cases, grant reinstatement and mixed signals.
“Beyond September is still a mystery, and regardless of how this funding is going to shake out, the services that are federally funded are still very much in jeopardy — access to ebooks, research databases, reference help, digitized heritage materials, support for rural libraries and tribal library support, training and consulting, the Washington Talking book and Braille Library, workforce development resources and institutional library services,” Hoffman said.
One area that concerns The Daily World directly, which is the newspaper of record for Grays Harbor County, is the digitizing of heritage materials. Tien Triggs, the school and digital support librarian at the Washington State Library, said they may have to turn to other entities to fulfill its obligation to maintain these archives.
“Our digitized heritage materials cover the historical newspapers. The state budget crisis right now means they’re not going to have the full resources and staff that are required to support our state mandate. The state library serves as the depository for newspapers published in the state of Washington,” Triggs said. “It’s a central location for a valuable historical record for scholarly, personal and commercial reference and circulation and both federal and state funding support that work. We had several people working on Northwest digital heritage and everything that we do, as far as maintaining the history of this region. It’s so essential because we’re the repository for this. One of our colleagues had to talk to the University of Washington about possibly taking that on. This is something that we have been stewards of for almost two decades.”
Jeanne Williams, the Public and Tribal Library Consultant, says that these cuts and continued uncertainty will hit rural and tribal libraries particularly hard.
“We directly support through consulting services, our rural small tribal libraries. We also have folks who help maintain small libraries’ websites. We host those websites. We provide technical support. Evelyn Lindberg does training to help those small libraries maintain their content on those websites. So that is in jeopardy,” Williams said. “We also had quite a few libraries across the state who were taking part in the LibTech program which supplied broadband equipment and Internet access. That also included a consultant who would file e-rate on behalf of the LibTech libraries. So losing that is huge for the libraries who are already up and running on that, because all of that equipment has to be pulled out, and then they have to find their own way to have Internet connectivity in their libraries. That is going to be a major impact to small libraries. We provide reference services to library staff across the state. I deal with questions and consulting for policy development, statutory regulations for libraries, requirements for annexations, contracting public works, open meetings, risk management.”
Joyce Abbott. workforce development librarian for WSL says that these cuts will be devastating for libraries’ workforce development initiatives.
“I work on digital equity, adult basic education, digital upskilling and reskilling and workforce development. I also serve on the digital equity Forum’s data and measurement work group,” Abbott said. “This role is 30% state and 70% IMLS funded. We offer free certification exams for anyone who lives, works or attends school in Washington.”
The Ocean Shores Public Library just held a WorkSource: Job Seeker Services event offering one-on-one help with job search assistance, resume building, interview preparation and career counseling this past Wednesday. And now the Digital Equity Grant program is no more.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), the Trump Administration cancelled the Digital Equity Act grant program as of May 9.
An article on the ALA’s website states, “The Digital Equity Act is part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (or Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) passed in 2021, the largest investment in broadband deployment ever ($65 billion) and the first time the federal government has assigned funding for digital inclusion at the state and local level. The $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act, a congressionally authorized program, was designed to close the digital divide in every state and territory by establishing grants to support broadband access and digital skills training for underserved communities. The Digital Equity Act is administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
“ALA is gravely concerned about the abrupt and illegal end of Digital Equity Act programs and funding. Broadband is a human right, and broadband access is core to modern life and success for school, work, healthcare, civic participation and social connections,” ALA President Cindy Hohl said. “Library workers, who serve community members at every stage and from every walk of life, know that public access to devices and the internet, as well as digital skills building, are needed more than ever.
“Libraries across the country are essential leaders and partners in Digital Equity Act grant programs and are relying on this funding to advance our commitment to closing the digital divide. States and community anchor institutions around the country have already developed promising models, begun establishing resources and partners, and carefully navigated contracts.
“Cancelling the Digital Equity Act at this stage is a devastating blow to rural Americans, veterans, senior citizens, jobseekers, and learners of all ages.”
According to Hoffman, federal funding supports 32 partially or fully funded library development staff at the WSL whose jobs are in jeopardy along with services and programs.
“These are the projects and the programs that are at risk with the federal funding cut — ebooks, fewer resources, rural libraries at risk, prison and hospital libraries, staff cuts, and all those really amazing innovative projects that we are so excited about are in jeopardy with losing that federal funding,” Hoffman said. “I think somebody already described it as a roller coaster — that feels like that’s the best description. It’s a really bad roller coaster, like one of those really rickety old ones that is super scary to be on. The hardest part about everything is we all genuinely love what we do, and we love being able to serve this community in Washington and to serve these libraries and to serve you, the hardest part that we’re all grappling with.”
