Trump executive order eliminates library services for blind and visually impaired, putting critical services for thousands of Mainers at risk as well as funding for Maine’s interlibrary loan service

The labor union representing workers at the Maine State Library today condemned the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle a federal agency that provides critical support to libraries, including services for Mainers with visual impairments and other disabilities.

The Maine Service Employees Association, Local 1989 of the Service Employees International Union (MSEA-SEIU Local 1989), called on the administration to rescind its order placing all workers at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on administrative leave. The labor union called on the administration to ensure that grant funding from the agency to libraries and museums in Maine and throughout the nation continues uninterrupted. The labor union also called on U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a lead author of the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) of 2018, to keep fighting for IMLS services, staffing and funding.

On March 14, Trump issued an executive order demanding the reduction of several agencies, including the IMLS “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” IMLS is the primary federal funding source to museums and all types of libraries in the United States. On Monday, IMLS announced that it is placing its employees on administrative leave for up to 90 days and prohibiting them from going into work. The announcement also noted their email was being suspended.

IMLS provides funding for the Maine State Library’s free services for about 3,000 people with blind and print disabilities in Maine. The program provides large print books and talking books to patrons, sends free books by mail and assists smaller libraries in making them available to their patrons. Staff who are impacted by the IMLS cuts also work with volunteers to record and edit books by Maine authors, which are sent to the National Library Service for anyone in the country to access. IMLS funding also helps pay for van delivery service for interlibrary loans.

“The people who receive our services are elderly and people with disabilities and often homebound. They describe the services we provide as a ‘lifeline,’” said MSEA member Christopher Boynton, the circulation, outreach and special services coordinator for the blind and print disabled at the Maine State Library. “With the loss of this funding, we will not have that staff and this critical service to some of our most vulnerable residents will not exist.”

Currently, this program is funded until late April, but after that, nothing is guaranteed. A loss of funding could force the Maine State Library to lay off staff.

“Libraries are for everyone and they provide a really valuable service for everyone in the community. They are a place that is safe and educational,” said MSEA member Raechel Moore, who works in the circulation department for the visually impaired and print disabled. “We do this work because we love to help people and we want to be able to provide these services for our communities. We work with so little and we do so much for families, researchers and people from all walks of life. We’re here to help people and it’s very frustrating to see that being taken away.”

Patrons who are visually impaired or print disabled often rely on the Maine State Library because the books are too expensive to purchase or they don’t have access to computers or the internet. Many have limited resources or live in an area with no library or one with very limited hours.

“These are programs that cost a vanishingly small amount of money, but they have a direct and powerful impact on the most vulnerable people in Maine,” said MSEA member Jenny Martinez, who works in outreach services and circulation at the Maine State Library. “For people who are older and less mobile and geographically isolated, this is a real lifeline. Every day we work really hard to serve our patrons because we know this program not only provides entertainment and education to people who wouldn’t normally be able to access it, but it also connects them to the outside world and truly makes their lives better. There are very few programs like this in the country and it would be devastating for our patrons if it were to disappear.”

MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 thanked Senator Collins, a strong supporter of the IMLS, for calling on IMLS Acting Director Keith Sonderling on March 26 to “allow the IMLS to engage with and support both libraries and museums as Congress intended and as authorized in the MLSA (Museum and Library Services Act of 2018),” according to a letter to Sonderling from Senators Collins, Jack Reed, Kirsten Gillibrand and Lisa Murkowski.

In the letter, Senator Collins and her fellow senators wrote, “As the lead authors of the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) of 2018 (PL 115-40), which was signed into law by President Trump, we write to remind the Administration of its obligation to faithfully execute the provisions of the law as authorized. The MLSA established the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and tasked the Director with the ‘primary responsibility for the development and implementation of policy to ensure the availability of museum, library, and information services adequate to meet the essential information, education, research, economic, cultural, and civic needs of the people of the United States.’ We expect that the Administration will implement the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 in a manner consistent with these allocations enacted in Fiscal Year 2024. We also expect that the Administration will allow the IMLS to engage with and support both libraries and museums as Congress intended and as authorized in the MLSA.”

According to a statement from Senator Collins’ office, “Grant funding from the IMLS has allowed the Maine State Library (MSL) to provide free gigabit internet service, web hosting, and technical expertise to 243 public libraries in Maine. This funding also helped the MSL acquire more than 740,000 new books, e-books, and audiobooks across all Maine libraries, including books for their mobile delivery van and books for those who are visually or hearing impaired.”

The cuts to the IMLS, along with other cuts throughout the federal government, from the Social Security Administration to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, come as the Trump administration and their allies in Congress seek to extend enormous tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. “It’s unconscionable that working families and our most vulnerable citizens are bearing the brunt of Trump’s scheme to give tax breaks to the rich at the expense of everyone else,” MSEA-SEIU President Mark Brunton said.