IMLS Advisory Board Iced Out as Acting Director Begins Slashing Grants to Libraries

In a letter to acting Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) director Keith Sonderling, members of the National Museum and Library Services Board, which occupies a statutory advisory role for the agency, expressed concern over being iced out of decisions involving the agency, including the recent decision to put staff on leave.

“We write to respectfully request clarification about the recent decision to place the staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on administrative leave, effective March 31, 2025, and other matters,” the letter opens. “As you are aware, the Board holds a statutory advisory role in support of the agency and its Director. We hope to fulfill that role constructively and collaboratively. In that spirit, we were disappointed to learn of this significant operational change not through internal communications but through news reports. We are concerned that neither the Advisory Board, the agency’s grantees, nor the staff appear to have received any forewarning or opportunity for consultation prior to the implementation of an administrative leave order.”

The letter goes on to note that no one from the agency has yet responded to the board’s March 24 letter, in which members asked for a chance to meet, and reminded Sonderling of IMLS’s responsibility to carry out its statutory duties, including the distribution of grant funding appropriated by Congress.  

“The absence of communication from the agency’s leadership to its statutory advisory body has created an information vacuum in which speculation and uncertainty replace transparency and confidence,” the letter notes, before asking for answers to several “important and time-sensitive” questions, including:

 • Which employees have placed on administrative leave, with the letter noting that reports suggest that “a small number of staff” may have been recalled. “Can you clarify how grant payments, oversight, and essential functions will be managed in the absence of key personnel? If some staff have returned to duty, what are their roles and responsibilities?”

• Which “agency interests and systems” are being protected per the IMLS’s March 31 memo to staff, which stated that placing staff on administrative leave “was necessary to ‘safeguard legitimate IMLS interests and systems.’”

• What operational role, if any, are DOGE (Division of Government Efficiency) staff are playing at IMLS and whether (DOGE) has DOGE assumed responsibilities related to grants or statutory programs.

• The process and timeline for the agency’s awards and medals program, which the board has a statutory role in administering. “Will the agency continue to administer this award, and if so, what timelines and processes will be followed?”

• Participation in the next year’s America250 celebration, in which a previous Trump executive order specifically laid out a role for the IMLS. “Is the agency currently engaged in ongoing planning related to the America250 celebrations?”

The board letter comes as the Trump administration on March 31 placed the staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on 90-day paid administrative leave. But it remains unclear what will happen to the agency after 90 days. In his March 14 executive order Trump gave agency officials seven days to deliver a plan to effectively wind down the agency, but as of press time, no plan has been released to the public.

However, several sources have now reported that, despite not consulting with the advisory board or releasing a public plan, IMLS grantees have begun receiving notice that their grants have been terminated.

In a post on its website, library political action committee EveryLibrary reports that “libraries across the country" began receiving official notices from the IMLS acting director "terminating their grants, effective April 1, 2025. “The reason given is that the grants are ‘inconsistent with IMLS’ priorities’ and that Trump’s March 14 Executive Order 'mandates that the IMLS eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions.'”

EveryLibrary officials say the sudden, unilateral termination of grants “directly violates the agency’s legal responsibilities under federal law,” adding that “we cannot imagine a scenario where the Acting Director has the authority to nullify a duly enacted federal law or unilaterally cancel the distribution of funds that Congress has directed to states.”

Officials at the American Library Association (ALA) also confirmed and called out the sudden termination of IMLS grants.

"This morning, several states received written notification from Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Acting Director Keith Sonderling that their IMLS grants were cancelled," the ALA statement noted. "At the time of writing, the states include California, Connecticut and Washington."

"Withdrawing library grants is a callous move at any time, but downright cruel at a time when it's getting harder for many Americans to make ends meet, most of all, in small and rural communities," ALA President Cindy Hohl said, in a statement. "The White House may have no qualms about slashing opportunity for jobseekers, students, veterans and families, but Congress has the power to restore support for services their constituents rely on. It's time for elected leaders to show up for our libraries."

Meanwhile, in its post EveryLibrary praised the National Museum and Library Services Board for its efforts.

“The Board has now issued two formal letters to the Acting Director outlining IMLS’s legal obligations under the Museum and Library Services Act and the current federal appropriations,” the post notes. “The Acting Director cannot claim to be unaware or uninformed. To date, he has made no public reply and appears to be disregarding the Board’s counsel and the Board itself—despite its role being clearly established by Congress in statute. This disregard is troubling and unacceptable.”

In a March 24 letter, the board of the National Museum and Library Services, insisted that the work of the IMLS, cannot be “paused, reduced, or eliminated without violating Congressional intent and federal statute.” That position was bolstered by a March 26 letter from the bipartisan group of senators who authored the legislation authorizing the work of IMLS, which advised Sonderling of the administration’s “obligation to faithfully execute the provisions of the law as authorized.”

In a previous March 31 statement, reps for the American Library Association also urged the administration to follow the law and allow IMLS to do its work.

“Congress created IMLS by law, with bipartisan support. Republican and Democratic Presidents signed those laws, including President Trump in 2018. Any significant reductions to the IMLS’ small and talented workforce would undermine the agency’s ability to carry out that law," Hohl stated. “ALA calls on IMLS Acting Director Keith E. Sonderling to continue funding for IMLS grants and return the staff needed to manage those funds to benefit the American people as mandated by Congress."

This article has been updated...