The Department of Government Efficiency, better known by its curious acronym DOGE, has found a new, and for many, unexpected target: your local library. Led by Elon Musk, this government initiative has reportedly infiltrated the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), raising alarms among federal employees and cultural advocates. This move comes just a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the IMLS’s dissolution.
IMLS, a small but vital agency with a $313 million annual budget and around 70 employees, serves to “advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development.” You can learn more about its mission directly on the Institute of Museum and Library Services website.
The situation on the ground is reportedly tense. An IMLS worker took to a federal employee subreddit to describe what was happening, writing, “The Institute of Museum and Library Services is being raided by DOGE and the new Acting Director (also somehow DepSec of Labor) Keith Sonderling with the express intent to shut it down… There are [Department] of Homeland Security personnel present – to bully a bunch of civil servants who administer grants to museums and libraries.”
Though most libraries rely on local tax dollars for a majority of their funding, the federal support from IMLS is crucial for things like employee training and technology upgrades, especially in remote or underserved areas. The IMLS also supports a vast network of museums—from aquariums to botanical gardens—by “awarding grants that help them educate students, preserve and digitize collections, and connect with their communities.”
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Opponents of the move are quick to point out that there’s no real justification for shutting down the agency. The American Alliance of Museums, for instance, released a statement that said, “There is no efficiency argument when IMLS represents just 0.0046% of the federal budget, while museums generate $50 billion in economic impact.” You can read more about the outcry from these organizations in this recent news report on the opposition to the IMLS closure.
The lack of major media coverage on the IMLS’s fate has allowed the process to proceed “quickly and quietly,” as the employee noted, leaving many in the dark about the potential consequences for their community’s cultural institutions.
