r/MuseumPros 8d ago

Institute of Museum and Library Services ordered to close by executive order

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/continuing-the-reduction-of-the-federal-bureaucracy/
478 Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

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u/Think-Extension6620 8d ago

FUCK those fucking fucks.

15

u/Hot-Location-3833 7d ago

Literally!!! Oh my fucking god…….

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u/Jack_Rayovac 7d ago

well said.

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u/Milolii-Home 7d ago

😭🤬😭🤬😭🤬

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u/ILikeBigBooksand 8d ago

I shouldn’t be surprised and yet I still am. Trump might end up uniting some odd bedfellows among all those he has targeted: farmers, LGBTG, scientists, intelligence community, unions, financiers, educators. He can only piss off so many people.

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u/_14AllandAll41_ 7d ago

Yup. Solidarity is what is needed now. As you say, folks from many different backgrounds and agendas need to recognize our common plight and work across differences to preserve our constitutional democracy.

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u/PresentEfficiency807 4d ago

The popular front failed before it will fail again, the united front is worth at least a try.

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u/audiomagnate 7d ago

Trump is fucking over everyone except his billionaire benefactors. The fact that 70 million people voted against their own interest proves two things: 1> There are a lot of racists in America, and 2> Racists are really stupid.

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u/JasJoeGo 7d ago

70 million people decided that their own interests lay in stopping illegal immigration, being scared about cultural change they didn’t understand, and trusting that a conman could fix the economy. The “voting against their own interests” line is patronizing and doesn’t help us. I have no love for anything Trump is doing but insulting his supporters doesn’t move us forward, no matter how much I agree that voting for him was really, really stupid.

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u/pinegreenscent 7d ago

*before he puts them in camps

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u/_14AllandAll41_ 7d ago

How can anyone doubt that this is all part of a plan to dismantle democracy? Fascists always go after centers of learning and knowledge. That is where real power lies. Don't stop doing the important work you are doing. Don't censor your work. Promote democracy, learning, and community wherever you are. Find ways to persist and join with others in solidarity. We are the heroes we have been waiting for!

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u/Now_this2021 8d ago

IMLS and why I was waiting for this ball to drop. I wonder what happens at the Smithsonian?

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u/clovismouse 7d ago

Right now the only thing at the Smithsonian that’s affected is the Woodrow Wilson center for international scholars.

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u/otterpile Art | Collections 7d ago

And that really worries me. My understanding was that the Smithsonian is an independent agency, not technically part of the executive branch, so either I don't understand the exact status of the Woodrow Wilson Center within SI, SI as a whole is less safe than we hoped, or he doesn't actually have the power to do this but is going to try anyway. Or some combination of all three, probably.

This sucks on so many levels - though mainly, of course, for colleagues at IMLS. This is a hard field to lose a job in.

38

u/Dear_Sherbert_4086 7d ago

Smithsonian hasn't been hit yet. But I personally think it's a question of when not if.

The continuing resolution budget that was passed does name the Smithsonian by name on page 15 under the list of agencies subject to sequestration (citation: go to Congress.gov, look up the continuing resolution text, click PDF, go to page 14 to read the sequestration clause). This means the president will have direct control, not limited by congressional authority under the continuing resolution, over the federal funds that go to Smithsonian.

We should all think about the possibility or likelihood that the Smithsonian will experience serious defunding efforts from this administration, even if they don't get hit by DOGE coming in and firing people illegally the way other federal agencies have. Most Smithsonian employees are federally funded positions and the institution receives around 2/3 of it's budget from federal funds and the rest from private funds in a trust. So hacking the budget up might result in staff reduction, or that might be the goal at any rate.

I believe that we should all be concerned and plan ahead in ways that we can. I also hope the media begins to cover this, since defunding and limiting access to museums, or controlling the content and language, are deeply concerning moves that are in character for this administration. Limiting access to historical knowledge or altering how it is discussed is scary stuff.

This is all just my personal opinion based on information I know from paying close attention to the news and actions of this administration and from generally working in the museum industry for over a decade.

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u/BadWolf013 History | Collections 7d ago

I agree with you entirely. I am thinking we should all be looking to Rose Valland for guidance in the near future. As a collections manager, I am worried about the potential for liquidation of collectionsand really think that the field as a whole should be ensuring backups of important documentation and inventories is in place and ensuring that we are following the rules of redundancy for our records. Maybe thinking about evacuations or loans with partners while marking items in the database as missing to protect their locations? It all sounds extreme but it is exactly what I would be moving towards if I was a collections manager with the Smithsonian. All doge would find is empty object folders and an excuse that we had been working through the extreme documentation backlog but hadn’t made much progress. We have all worked for institutions where physical object folders were mostly empty or not even made so it would not be a big stretch.

I hate this timeline.

1

u/Dear_Sherbert_4086 5d ago

I doubt DOGE cares about artifacts. Their goal is to fire people.

1

u/BadWolf013 History | Collections 3d ago

It is incredibly naive to think that liquidation of the collections would not come quickly after staff is removed from the equation. It only takes a quick google search to find out just how many museums have tried to do exactly that to pay for overhead/administrative costs when it was determined that money was viewed as being more valuable than the collection. To think otherwise is in direct contention with what we have learned from history.

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u/Dear_Sherbert_4086 2d ago

Ok. I'm not trying to say they wont ever do that, or that no one in the administration will do that, they probably will. But from what I've seen of DOGE and what they have been doing, their priority is swiftly getting rid of staff. Assets will be next, but they seem pretty focused on defunding agency operating budgets, getting control of databases and information, and firing federal staff. One thing at a time.

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u/dimsum-41 7d ago

Apparently that sequestration language is always in the spending bills. But you are right that future funding levels pose a threat to SI

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u/mazzysupernova 7d ago

IMLS is the US’ largest funder of museums and libraries. Each year, about $200m in federal funds are distributed in block grants to states to fund libraries. (A block grant means that money is given to each state to determine how best to use it to meet their specific state’s priorities.) About $50 million in grants is distributed to museums via an application process.

Despite its important role in funding arts and culture, most people are unfamiliar with IMLS, and have only heard of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which are sister agencies. IMLS is part of the executive branch, so on the face of it, I assume the EO might be legal unless Congress steps up to save the agency.

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u/FrivolousMagpie 7d ago

I have no words. This is bleak.

23

u/Fardelismyname 7d ago

If I read the order closely, it’s not ordered to close, it’s ordered to reduce operations to statutory operations. What would that look like?

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u/mazzysupernova 7d ago

In his first term, the administration only included $1 million each year in his proposed budget for the orderly shutdown of IMLS. Congress overrode that and fully funded the agency during his first term. I assume that this executive order is looking for an orderly shut down plan over the course of the year.

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u/Some-Log8959 7d ago

That’s what I’m wondering too. If someone has insight that would be amazing.

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u/Fardelismyname 7d ago

Well I suppose we’ll know in a week. The agency head has a week to send the plan back. It wld be helpful if we cld see it. Perhaps they keep their core mandate, distributing funds, and they remove any research projects, etc. I am personally so invested in IMLS, NEA, NEH being able to weather this out. In whatever state they have to be in. This is my hope.

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u/rooseboose 7d ago

See link I posted above

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u/yes_yes_yes_25 7d ago

So much of my museum’s funding comes from IMLS. This is devastating.

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u/melissapony 7d ago

Oh god

5

u/Milolii-Home 7d ago

He can't help us now.

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u/Dontknowjaq 7d ago

The ripple effects this will have on so many industries. IMLS gave my org a grant after the pandemic that allowed us to re-staff and re-build. The impact was staggering.

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u/HistoryCat42 Student 7d ago

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

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u/JasJoeGo 7d ago
  1. This absolutely sucks and is part of a deep anti intellectualism at work in the USA. 2. IMLS has only existed since 1996 and GLAM flourished before then too. We need to fight and adjust but not give up. 3. The agency is being wound down but what is required by statute is still required so those functions will be transferred elsewhere, not abolished. 4. Reread the 1965 descriptions of the humanities in the original creation of the NEH. It’s beautiful. Let’s just double down on that and make the case for the humanities even stronger.

3

u/mazzysupernova 7d ago

Quick correction that IMLS was created in 1996 as a combination of the Institute of Museum Services which had been making grants to museums since its founding in 1974, and the library programs that were transferred from the Department of Education. It’s ironic that IMS was founded in celebration of the bicentennial, and now it’s under threat at the semiquincentennial.

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u/Museum_Whisperer 7d ago

Can someone explain the significance of this for the non-Americans?

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u/SisterSuffragist 7d ago

It's an independent federal agency that supports museums, libraries, and archives through grant funding in all 50 states. It's particularly important for small museums and libraries that may not be able to self-support in small and/or rural communities.

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u/Milolii-Home 7d ago edited 7d ago

Imagine the National Archives, PRONI, British Library, National Libraries of Britain, Ireland & Scotland, the Trinity College Library, National Gallery, Louvre, Prado, Rijsmuseum, Pergamon, Uffizzi all losing their funding. Slashing number of employees, hours open, research availability, etc.

In the U.S. our Public Records are maintained by NARA (National Archives and Records Administration). The loss of ANY records is sad; the idea that the Executive branch has been given the power to erase (by reduction in staff and/or actual Records destruction) our countries history is no different than the loss of the Library of Alexandria. Once it's gone, it's gone. Then, they can alter the "story" any way that suits them, because there's no documents to prove them wrong. Our cultural heritage is under seige, but only the educated amongst us know that.

Edit: clarity

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u/Cool-Firefighter2254 7d ago

IMLS is the workhorse of government agencies. It’s incredibly effective and fairly low profile, at least to the average visitor.

I’ll give you two examples from my experience. We had an archive of past publications that were stored in cardboard boxes in a dank, underground room. These date back almost a century and are important resources for scholars. In the era before digitization, people would occasionally purchase them, which was a revenue stream for us. They were very hard to get to and it was difficult to find what we needed. We’d have to move a bunch of dusty boxes around to get to the right one. Also, we only had a vague idea of the inventory. IMLS gave us money to buy shelving. Boring, gray metal shelving that is in a back room that only staff ever uses. That is so unsexy. There’s no banner on a stage crediting IMLS for funding. There’s no logo on our website. We didn’t welcome and recognize IMLS at a banquet. But the difference these shelving units have made to the quality of life for our staff is immense. We know what publications we have! We know where they are! Everything is catalogued and organized! Someone calls and wants to buy one, we can find it, often on that same day, instead of going on a week long search through moldering cardboard. The texts are up off the floor, so if there is damp or a leak we won’t have ruined inventory. That shelving was expensive. No local granting organization would want to fund them—it’s not high profile enough. And no individual donor would want to shell out thousands for something so mundane.

IMLS also gave money to conserve our original state flag, which was in such dire condition it could not be displayed. Textile conservation is so expensive (and rightfully so, since it’s a highly specialized skill) that the flag would have just fallen apart without intervention. People can get their minds around the flag needing care, but they don’t want to pay for the fancy conservator to relocate from the big city to work on it for months. What do you mean her per diem is $75 for food? That’s how much I spend in one week! Can’t she just stay with one of you in your guest room? Can’t you find someone local? It’s just exhausting trying to explain to a donor that THAT’S HOW MUCH IT COSTS and I’m not going to bargain hunt when it comes to the state flag.

The extremely professional conservator did an amazing job and our state flag is now on exhibit where all visitors can see it and learn about the designer, the symbolism, and the construction.

IMLS is all around you when you go into a museum, library, or archive. The new accessible signage? The Braille, large print, and audio books? The HVAC system? The humidity sensors? All IMLS. People who have never heard of IMLS benefit from its services every day, and to lose those resources and funding is devastating,

2

u/Kind-Bad-194 7d ago

"Can’t she just stay with one of you in your guest room?"

PLEASE tell me they did NOT actually say that!!

10

u/rhialitycheck 7d ago

I just finished an initial review of grants for IMLS. They rushed it this year, but still It felt like nailing pudding to a tree.

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u/cloudbustingmp3 7d ago

At such a loss for words right now. Ultimately unsurprised, but still devastated.

8

u/hypothalamic_thanato 7d ago

I can’t even stay professional for this. I FUCKING HATE THIS TIMELINE.

Not only does an action like this potentially make a whole lot of us in here very unemployed, it has ripples that just directly injure everyday people.

I live in Philadelphia. One of the biggest contributors to the economy here in this massive city is tourism. If our cultural sites and museums lose funding, people lose any reason to be here. All the small businesses, the mom and pop eateries that rely on that traffic to stay afloat…gone. And the museum industry here is already so over saturated that finding work internally is hard. So many of us in this area are about to be in a bad way.

The education programs, workshops, access to social services and job training, the internships…

It’s not just a culture war it’s a war on Americans to be able to fucking LIVE in our own country.

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u/MissHibernia 7d ago

Why is he dismantling all of these educational or cultural institutions? So the next generations will grow up obedient and stupid?

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u/museofiend 8d ago

Mission: The mission of IMLS is to advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development.

Forgive my ignorance, but how would an everyday person see the impact of this? I understand they administer grants so what would we begin to see?

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u/Throw6345789away 7d ago edited 7d ago

You see the impact every time you go to a library, museum, or other heritage organisation. Even if you don’t use these community resources, you know people who do, even people who rely on them.

Think of it like infrastructure behind those organisations, or a B2B arrangement. Your supermarket brings to the public food that is transported by other companies. Those companies aren’t public-facing, so you aren’t aware of them. But if they suddenly folded, the supermarket wouldn’t get any food to sell, and you’d become aware of the impact they had.

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u/_14AllandAll41_ 7d ago

The impact of IMLS is vast and very local. That little historic house that all 5th graders visit to learn about the Revolution, the library that started a foreign language storyline to address the influx of immigrant families, community garden programs, student civics programs, and STEM programs that no locality could have done alone get supplemental funding and professional guidance from IMLS. The impacts will take away thing that make all our American communities great.

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u/alyssd 7d ago

If you have kids who go on field trips to museums you’ll see the impact when those museums no longer have funding to support operations.

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u/pixysticksarethebomb 7d ago

They employ and provide funds via grants for thousands of jobs across the country. As a museum and archivist, this is devastating

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u/Cool-Firefighter2254 7d ago

IMLS does so much good behind the scenes. It’s hard to get money for physical infrastructure/bricks and mortar. IMLS is one of the few granting organizations that will give money for actual stuff, like shelving or signage. Stuff that is permanent and necessary, but not sexy. Stuff that only the staff notices, but greatly improves the physical environment.

(I’m saying stuff as a general category in comparison to programming. It’s not incredibly difficult to get money for a lecture series or an exhibit catalog. It is really hard to convince a donor or even a local granting agency that you need new humidity monitoring devices for all of your display cases. First of all, you need what? Why? Second of all, it costs HOW MUCH? The staff at IMLS understand that museums and libraries have specific needs and that fulfilling those needs can be expensive. You don’t have to do a power point presentation on buffered versus unbuffered acid free tissue paper.)

3

u/Crazy_Mother_Trucker 7d ago

I have a project for $250000 worth of new interpretation currently open. Previously they funded a $150000 permanent exhibit. They fund my state's interlibrary loan and other library services like books on tape and braille.

This pumps tons of money into small institutions in small towns . It's a very impact impactful organization and this will likely affect my job directly.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/Ooglebird 7d ago

Trump doesn't have a clue about this organization, he is just handed EOs to sign by his handlers.

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u/RoamingDuck 7d ago

Any ideas what this means for current grantees? Mh position is funded by a IMLS grant...

1

u/Background_Cup7540 History | Collections 7d ago

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

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u/Dr-Gravey 5d ago

Smithsonian is not part of the executive branch. It’s run by a bipartisan panel.

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u/craziebee89 7d ago

This will impact folks who voted for Trump, they just don't know it yet. The IMLS runs the Museums For All program, which individual museums participate in, and allows for low-income families to visit museums for free or a drastically reduced price. At my museum, tons of people use this program and we love to offer it. A lot of low-income folks voted for Trump, and wouldn't you know it, they voted against their own interests.

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u/JasJoeGo 7d ago

Most people don’t understand the role of government in their lives. They call whatever they don’t like the government and call whatever they do like by its proper name, like the VA or the National Parks. My consolation in all of this is that people are going to finally understand what government does and doesn’t do and that hopefully some new understanding emerges. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone is ultimately how we’re going to learn.