Every year, Vermont libraries get over a million dollars from the federal government to pay for everything from interlibrary loans to audio books and staff training.
Now that funding is in limbo called for reducing parts of the federal government 鈥渢he President has determined are unnecessary.鈥� That includes gutting an agency called the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides funding and country.
鈥淭hese funds touch almost everything we do,鈥� said Vermont State Librarian Cathy Delneo.
Federal funding makes up about a third of the state鈥檚 Department of Libraries budget and pays for the transportation of books between over 200 libraries, access to and the availability of test prep materials for everything from a commercial driver鈥檚 license to the SAT. It also helps pay for books at correctional facilities, the state veterans鈥� home, and the state psychiatric hospital.
鈥淲e're offsetting costs that would fall to folks at the municipal level otherwise,鈥� Delneo said.
The state has federal funding for libraries through June, and they might not know more about future federal funding until the end of April, according to staff at the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
鈥淚t's definitely opaque at this point,鈥� Delneo said.
The executive order also impacts Vermont museums that have received grants in recent years, including the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury; the ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain in Burlington; and the Vermont Historical Society, with locations in Barre and Montpelier.
They recently received a nearly $180,000 grant throughout the state with training and help managing their collection over the next few years.
鈥淲e鈥檙e assuming that grant will be ended, but we haven鈥檛 yet heard officially,鈥� Amanda Gustin, the director of collections at the Vermont Historical Society, told Vermont Edition on Monday.
鈥淭hat means we鈥檒l lose [a] staff member and the next two years of work that was planned,鈥� she said.
While the organization technically already has a contract with the federal government, there鈥檚 no guarantee they鈥檒l be paid without suing the federal government.
鈥淲e as an organization don鈥檛 have the financial wherewithal to carry the cost of the grant for the perhaps years of litigation in court,鈥� said Steve Perkins, director of the Vermont Historical Society.
Perkins said losing the agency would jeopardize more than their current active grants 鈥� it鈥檚 the only federal support for museums and libraries.
鈥淎nd to say it doesn鈥檛 matter? That鈥檚 tough,鈥� he said.
Delneo, the state librarian, feels similarly.
鈥淚 don't agree that the Institute of Museum and Library Services is unnecessary,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 went around to libraries after the floods in 2023. Libraries that were flooded were helping people to fill out FEMA paperwork 鈥� they are not unnecessary."
