The American Library Association (ALA) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the largest American union of cultural works, signed a settlement with the Trump administration on 9 April that allows the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to continue carrying out its work.
In April last year, the White House administration placed the entire staff of the IMLS on administrative leave following an Executive Order seeking the ‘reduction of federal bureaucracy’. The ALA and AFSCME filed a lawsuit to prevent the effective dismantling of the IMLS. In early May, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocked the Trump administration from taking further action to dissolve the IMLS and its operations and halted the mass layoffs that were scheduled to start taking place later in the month.
The settlement reached last week ensures that the IMLS will continue awarding grants, conducting research and operating programs to support libraries and museums across the US. It will also reverse the termination of grants and staff reductions that had taken place following the Executive Order targeting the IMLS.
‘When the administration began shuttering IMLS last year, it set off a chain reaction. Libraries across the country started cutting hours, staff and services people rely on – after school programs, support for jobseekers and connection for older adults’, said Sam Helmick, president of the ALA, in a statement. ‘This settlement protects life-changing library services for communities across the country.’
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