Statement Regarding Executive Order March 2025

Statement on Executive Order Impacting IMLS and Library Funding

On Friday, March 14, the Office of the President of the United States issued an Executive Order to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) – the federal agency that supports libraries and museums across the United States. 

This Executive Order not only impacts critical community hubs and resources (including underfunded rural libraries) but also does not recognize the direct and beneficial impact these institutions have on our community. 

Here’s some information about IMLS and the Memphis Public Libraries. From 2022-2024, the state of Tennessee received a little over 10 million dollars from IMLS to distribute to libraries through Technology Opportunities for Public, Construction, and Technology Grants.  Further, IMLS funds TEL – the Tennessee Electronic Library.

How does this directly impact us?  Here is a list of funding MPL has received from IMLS since 2007.

  1. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Direct Grants
  • 2021-2022: $49,940 for Connect Crew job-readiness and skill-building equipment, CLOUD901 staff laptops, and nontraditional collections.  
  • 2021: $10,000 for National Medal Award. 
  • 2020-2022: $345,620 for Wi-Fi Expansion, bilingual programming, volunteer office upgrades, mobile 901VOICES, and WYPL upgrades. 
  • 2019: in-kind training valued at $5,000 for the Coding Club at Levi Library.  
  • 2007: IMLS National Medal
  1. State of Tennessee TOP Training Grants 
  • 2022: $10,528.00 for library tech equipment and Code Crew Summer Camps.  
  • 2021: $15,995.20 for program laptops and Code Crew Summer Camps.  
  • 2020: $19,740 for hotspot checkout and virtual coding camp with Code Crew. 
  • 2019: $3,600 for tablets and instructor to offer Techy Seniors classes in Spanish. 
  • 2018:  $5,752 instructors for basic tech and a laptop.
  1. State of Tennessee TSLA Collection Grants 
  • 2023: $430,500 for collection development.  
  • 2022: $715,864.00 for collection development.  
  • 2021: $1,192,500 for collection development.  
  • 2020: $51,900 for collection development. 
  • 2019: $51,900 for collection development.  
  • 2019: $100,000 in kind gift of books from Sec. of State Tre Hargett. 
  • 2018: $51,900 for collection development 
  • 2017: $45,000 for collection development
  1. State of Tennessee TSLA Technology Grants 
  • 2024-2025: $11,235 for Cossitt Content Creation Space
  • 2023-2024: $12,433 for staff laptops.  
  • 2022-2023: $17,873 for board and meeting room upgrades.  
  • 2021-2022: $9,035 for mobile circ kits. 
  • 2020-2021: $8,380 for mobile circ kits.  
  • 2019-2020: $8,380 for iPad sets.  
  • 2018-2019: $8,000 for tablets and laptops for the Start Here van.  
  • 2017-2018: $9,879 for laptops, barcode scanners, and portable printers.  
  • 2016-2017: $8850 for Tech Van Equipment. 

Further, the Memphis Library Foundation is a finalist for an IMLS grant of $100,000 entitled “Library Arts Interventions for Justice-Involved and At-Risk Youth.”

If you’d like to research IMLS funding distribution further, IMLS has an interactive map of the United States, which can be found here: https://www.imls.gov/map