U.S. library advocates battle unprecedented challenges to federal support; you can help

As LJ and many others have reported, President Trump’s FY18 federal budget request, released May 23, is bad news for libraries. It proposes to cut nearly all funding from not only the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which gets a little wind-down money, but also from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as well as the National Library of Medicine, National Telecommunication and Information Administration, Federal Communications Commission, Department of Education, and National Archives and Records Administration, among others. And don’t be lulled by the “2018”—the federal budget year ends in September after a long congressional recess in August.

But that doesn’t mean library funding advocates are giving up. Just the opposite: they’re doubling down, with collaboration from every part of the library ecosystem, from the American Library Association (ALA) activating the grassroots efforts of individual librarians nationwide through Fight for Libraries! to political action committee ­EveryLibrary broadening its focus from local funding battles to a wide coalition of library vendors coming together to lend their economic heft and a business perspective. Below, more about the fight, who’s leading it, and some hands-on ideas for what you can do to help.

• ALA: Fighting for Funding
• What’s Next for Federal Funding
• Tools You Can Use
• Vendors Get Organized
• Q&A: Kathi Kromer
• The State(s) of National Advocacy
• 360° Advocacy: Engage Stakeholders in What Libraries Really Deliver | Editorial