On Monday, March 31, 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) gutted the only federal agency that supports the work of public libraries and museums nationwide, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). All staff were places on administrative leave, while their email addresses were closed and anyone waiting on funding or information from IMLS were told that it was likely simply not going to happen.
All of this happened without the agency’s new Acting Director, Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith E. Sonderling, responding to the questions brought to him by the Board overseeing the IMLS. The board sent Sonderling a letter March 24, which outlined the essential functions of the agency, making it clear that any cuts to the IMLS would have a direct and long-lasting impact on public museums and libraries nationwide. The Board emphasized that an Executive Order alone is not enough to change the functions or services provided by the IMLS.
The Board of the IMLS has sent Sonderling another letter. The board not only wants answers to its previous questions, but it’s now asking for clarification and truth over what happened on Monday.
Among the clarifications the IMLS Board include the following topics.
Implementation of Administrative Leave:
We understand that staff have been placed on administrative leave for a 90-day period and that this leave was implemented suddenly and comprehensively. However, other reports suggest that a small number of staff may have been recalled. Can you clarify how grant payments, oversight, and essential functions will be managed in the absence of key personnel? If some staff have returned to duty, what are their roles and responsibilities?
Agency Systems and Interests:
The letter issued to staff on March 31, 2025, stated that the administrative leave was necessary to “safeguard legitimate IMLS interests and systems.” Can you please clarify what specific interests or systems are being protected?
The Operational Role of DOGE at IMLS:
In the absence of some or all of IMLS staff, what activities and functions, if any, are being undertaken by the Division of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with respect to agency operations? Has DOGE assumed responsibilities related to grants or statutory programs?
National Awards and Medals:
This Board has a statutory role in awarding the National Medal for Museum and Library Service (§ 9101(3)). Will the agency continue to administer this award, and if so, what timelines and processes will be followed?
And finally, the role that Trump sees the IMLS playing as part of his propaganda machine related to the 250th anniversary celebration being planned for 2026:
We note that President Trump’s Executive Order 14189 (January 29, 2025) names the Director of IMLS as a member of the interagency “Task Force 250” and requires Task Force members to submit a report of agency planning and activities related to the 250th Anniversary of American Independence by March 1, 2025. Has IMLS fulfilled its responsibility to submit this report to the Task Force Executive Director? Is the agency currently engaged in ongoing planning related to the America250 celebrations?
Read the full letter from the IMLS Board of Directors here.
Slashing the IMLS is but one of the many slash and burn tactics underway with the new administration. These decisions to wholesale gut government agencies is intentional. The sowing of confusion and inconsistent messaging is an intended consequence, as it allows for the administration to spread whatever the most advantages message at the moment is when asked for clarification.
What is clear, though, is no matter what this “administrative leave” looks like for staff of the IMLS, they’ve been effectively fired from their roles. When the projects, files, and emails for a role have been dismantled, even if staff is brought back, they’re not coming back to the jobs that they left. They’re coming back to something wholly new, and in the case of the IMLS, we already know that the results in either case–permanent firing or rehiring under new guidelines–directly impacts public library and museum services nationwide.
Whether or not the Board of the IMLS will ever get an answer to the letter remains to be seen. It is vital, however, to emphasize that the pushback is happening.
Continue to reach out to your state and federal representatives about restoring the functions and staff of the IMLS as they were prior to the mid-March takeover. You can do that quickly and easily through EveryLibrary’s Save IMLS webpage. You can find out what services are funded by IMLS funds in most of the US states through the links provided here.
Source : IMLS Board of Directors Demands Answers About Agency’s Future
