Save libraries from Trump’s chopping block

Reading shouldn’t be a luxury of the rich.

In March, President Trump issued an executive order to shut down the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. This agency is the conduit for money appropriated by Congress to flow to states then to library systems, such as the Wisconsin Valley Library Service (WVLS), and finally to local libraries.

Trump’s stated goal in the order was to cut federal spending to free up more money for tax cuts — which give big benefit to billionaires. The fact that the library cuts would eliminate people’s access to information and close pathways to better themselves was just a bonus.

As with many changes in federal programs, the impacts are cascading. Funding cuts translate directly into job and program elimination at the state and regional level as austerity measures kick in. With fewer people to do the work, even the remaining programs suffer.

Individual libraries will see the federal cuts in higher costs for internet services, potential elimination of ebook resources, elimination or drastic changes to interlibrary loan programs and loss of support at the regional and state levels.

This will be felt most keenly in more rural areas of the state, such as here in central Wisconsin. Federal funds account for about 9% of the WVLS budget.

Smaller, rural libraries are more dependent on the services offered through WVLS and Department of Public Instruction than larger, urban library services.

One solution would be for local governments to make a larger investment in local library budgets.

While increased municipal spending for libraries is always a good investment, local budgets are stretched thin. Likewise, at the state level, the once-healthy fund balances that could have lessened the blow to libraries are being frittered away on billion dollar tax cuts and new program spending. A better solution is for Congress to actually do its job and manage the nation’s purse strings. That includes standing up to presidential overreach and preventing the executive branch from ignoring the federal laws that put that funding into place.

Wisconsin Attorney General Joshua Kaul has joined with other states to challenge President Trump’s executive order in federal court. The judicial process, however, is not a swift one and with an increasingly politicized federal judiciary, there are no guarantees, especially when it puts loyalty to the president versus a plain reading of the constitutional separation of power.

Congress must stand up and say that funding to state and local libraries is important and that funding should remain in place.

Call on Rep. Tom Tiffany as well as U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson and tell them to keep funding in place for library services so that all Americans can have access to information and a chance for a better life. Congress must act to save libraries from President Trump's chopping block.