On March 14, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the Institute of Museum and Library Services, intending to element it.
The executive order aimed to dismantle the IMLS, the primary agency funding libraries across America, “to the maximum extent”—slashing staff, canceling grants and throwing crucial programs into uncertainty.
The effects were instantaneous.
Libraries, especially in rural and underserved communities, faced cuts to literacy programs, internet access and digital lending services. Staff members were laid off. Services subsided. The ripple effect made clear just how essential the federal support of libraries is.
Why did Trump do this? Much like many of the presidential decisions he makes, we may never know why.
The response to this executive order, however, proved that the American people do have a say in their fate.
Libraries began to fight to regain federal funding. A coalition of state attorney generals, labor unions and the American Library Association sued the administration. They determined that the executive branch had no authority to withhold funding approved by Congress. To no one’s surprise, the courts agreed.
Judges blocked the dismantling of IMLS and ordered the grants to be reinstated.
Now, in April 2026, the Trump administration withdrew its appeal of those rulings, effectively concluding the battle. IMLS will continue to distribute millions in grants.
The events of this past year highlighted unsettling truths. The fragility of our public institutions is amplified when presidential power is placed in untrustworthy hands.
Since Trump entered his second term, more than 260,000 federal workers were lost due to the reductions made by executive orders and the work of the DOGE. According to the DOGE’s reports, the government saved $215 billion as a result.
Today, the war in Iran is costing America $2 billion each day and may ultimately cost $1 trillion.
The aim to federally defund libraries was never about budgeting. It was a direct attack on education and literacy. The funding that is accessible to the IMLS pales in comparison to the billions invested in the bombing that struck an Iranian elementary school, killing 175.
Though we now enter a temporary ceasefire, this does not erase the thousands who have already died at the hands of Trump’s war.
Yet, if the past year has proven anything, it’s that a greater power lies with the resilient who are willing to push back in accordance with the law. More than 100 federal judges ruled against Trump’s policies and executive orders, despite the pushback they received.
Brighter days are coming. Not without cost, however, and not without the willingness of Americans to link arms, educate themselves and raise their voices.
