NAHANT — The weight of the presidential executive order on March 14 to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has rippled across the country, with Nahant finally feeling the heat.
Director of the Public Library Nori Morganstein talked about the impact that rolls through the country like an avalanche and how it’s affected the Nahant Library.
On March 31, the entire staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was put on leave, according to the library’s statement. Then, on April 3, services from the Massachusetts library budget were immediately cut.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is a small federal agency with roughly 70 employees that grants funding to libraries and museums throughout the United States. “Library funding draws less than 0.003% of the annual federal budget, yet has enormous impacts on communities nationwide,” she said.
Since the Nahant library is on the smaller side, it requests books daily for its patrons from other Massachusetts libraries with the help of “Comcat” (the Commonwealth Catalog). Even this feature is in trouble.
“The continuation of this service could be lost without the help of IMLS. This could mean Nahant patrons would lose access to millions of books and materials they currently have access to and request now,” she said.
The library has benefited from several IMLS grants (from preservation projects to nature grants and even tick-borne diseases grants). It also benefits from funding and services from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, which is partly funded by the IMLS.
Besides possibly losing access to countless books throughout the state, patrons of the library are also at risk of losing access, potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, by not having the Commonwealth Catalog. By not having future grant funding, the town could also lose its access to free eBooks and databases.
“IMLS directly helps the Nahant Public Library, Massachusetts libraries, and libraries across the country,” she said. “Library services in the state have already been cut, including 18 grants to Massachusetts public libraries awarded in Feb., and access to training and continuing education.”
For any resident or community member who would like to learn more, the American Library Association has resources on its website to educate people about the IMLS and its impact on countless libraries.
“Most important of all, please continue to use the library, and encourage those you know to use their local libraries as well, to demonstrate what a valuable contribution to the communities they continue to be,” she said.
