Here’s a huge win for libraries, museums and the communities they serve nationwide.
AFSCME members have succeeded in protecting funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). That’s a federal agency the Trump administration tried to dismantle over a year ago.
Our union’s victory comes a little over a year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to decimate IMLS. In response, AFSCME sued to stop IMLS from being dismantled.
To AFSCME members who work in public libraries and museums, IMLS is vitally important. A nonpartisan and independent agency created by Congress in 1996, the agency provides grants to library and museum programs across the country, especially in smaller and rural institutions that rely on federal funding for a greater share of their budgets.
IMLS grants support the essential services these AFSCME members provide. They help pay for summer reading programs, infrastructure and technology upgrades, and more.
The executive order, which led to almost the entire IMLS staff being placed on administrative leave, was yet another example of the administration’s efforts to target essential public services that AFSCME members provide. These efforts are supported by anti-union extremists and their billionaire friends, but they are harming our communities and the workers who provide the public services these communities need.
AFSCME members fought hard to reinstate funding for IMLS. As the nation’s largest union of cultural workers, we will continue fighting to protect cultural institutions around the country, as well as essential public services.
AFSCME members’ stories
If the administration had succeeded in gutting IMLS, budget cuts at libraries and museums across the country would have jeopardized programs and staff.
When Trump issued the IMLS executive order, AFSCME members who work in public libraries expressed concern.
Yonah Bromberg Gaber, a library associate at the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) and president of AFSCME Local 1808 (District Council 20), said DCPL receives more than $1 million in grants each year from IMLS. They said shutting down IMLS would threaten the jobs for at least four full-time employees at the library, which works with underserved populations.
The same was true for other libraries.
At the University of Minnesota, where Robert Francis works as a library assistant, public services and jobs were on the line.
Francis works at the Minitex Resource Sharing unit, which supports the Health Sciences Library at the University Minnesota-Twin Cities. Minitex relies on IMLS funding and faced a huge potential shortfall because of the administration’s attempt to shutter the agency, Francis said.
Francis, a member of AFSCME Local 3800 (Council 5), said Minitex “has served Minnesota libraries for over 50 years and ensures that all Minnesotans — regardless of class or geographic location in the state — have access to high-quality library resources.”
Patrick Johnston, a circulation assistant at the Daniel Boone Regional Library in Columbia County, Missouri, said the loss of IMLS funding would force library staff to cut back on special programming.
“Staff will not be able to try new programs to adapt to evolving community needs,” said Johnston, who is also president of AFSCME Local 3311 (Council 61). “These gaps will be keenly felt by our patrons, who look to their library as a lifeline for information, community, betterment, career advancement, and basic modern connectivity.”
Our union’s victory in protecting these essential public services is a testament to the power of working people. Share this story with your friends and family to show how working people win when we stand together in a union to fight for our families, communities and the services we provide.