Linda Burnap: Congress needs to protect the Institute of Museum and Library Services

To The Daily Sun, 

Page 56 of Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion budget calls for eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the only federal agency dedicated to funding America’s libraries. The agency distributes about $290 million annually to libraries and museums nationwide. This is the sixth time Trump has attempted to eliminate IMLS. Each time, librarians, educators, parents, and community leaders across the country have pushed back. Congress has rejected the proposal in the past. Yet, here we are again.

Libraries today are far more than buildings filled with books. In New Hampshire, those funds support statewide interlibrary loan services, digital resources, workforce tools, and early literacy programs state-wide.

Wolfeboro’s library is filled with students every afternoon, working toward their futures. Guests will find free internet access, a Tech Support volunteer, programs for every age group — from preschoolers to seniors — along with guest speakers, music concerts, and even chair yoga classes. Taxes can be prepared there free through an AARP grant, in one of the library’s meeting rooms.

While Trump's budget proposes eliminating this vital and necessary community hub, it also includes ridiculous costly projects. Page 44 calls for reviving Alcatraz as a prison — a plan estimated to require roughly $250 million just to shore up infrastructure and utilities to return it to a federal prison. All food, water, and basic needs would have to be ferried to the island, while all waste would need to be transported off it. Meanwhile, California would lose nearly $2 billion in tourism generated by visitors to Alcatraz each year.

IMLS funding represents a tiny fraction of the federal budget, yet its impact is enormous. Eliminating it while proposing insane projects is wrong. Congress must again reject Trump’s proposal and protect the investment that keeps New Hampshire’s libraries serving everyone.

Linda Burnap

Wolfeboro