‘A whole lot of uncertainty’: Federal staffing freeze bodes poorly for Middle Georgia library services

The Middle Georgia Regional Library is planning for ways to maintain its programming amid cuts to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides funding to state library services and museums.

IMLS was named in a March 14 executive order as one of the departments to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” in Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to cut down the government.

Staff at the Institute of Museum and Library Services were placed on administrative leave at the end of last month.

The institute’s “Grants to States” program is the largest source of federal funding for state library services and gave $5.2 million to the Georgia Public Library Service this past fiscal year.

Funds go toward services like the PINES system, which allows Georgians to access all the books and other materials across participating libraries with the same library card.

“It’s really the backbone of all of the public libraries,” said Jennifer Lautzenheiser, director of the Middle Georgia Regional Library.

Public libraries in Georgia service millions of people every year, and the Middle Georgia Regional Library has 18 locations across Baldwin, Bibb, Crawford, Jones, Macon, Twiggs and Wilkinson counties.

While it’s yet to be announced if the PINES system or any IMLS programs will be discontinued, Lautzenheiser said she and the library system’s staff are looking at the different programs funded by IMLS and devising “contingency plans” if those programs are impacted.

“There is a whole lot of uncertainty,” she said. “Even the state agency, we haven’t really been informed about what happens next.”

Grants for the library system’s summer reading program and services for the blind have been closed out for the year. The summer reading program will continue through this summer, but the library system “does not know what next year will look like,” Lautzenheiser said.

Lautzenheiser also said the state’s Galileo program, an even larger searchable database that shares information between K-12 libraries and academic institutions, is made accessible to regional library systems through the institute.

IMLS also offers individual grants for other opportunities, and Middle Georgia Regional Library received $50,000 through an IMLS grant in 2020 to document the oral history of Central State Hospital. The Tubman Museum received $50,000 in 2007 to expand its services through an individual IMLS grant as well.

“A lot of time is invested in making sure that no matter what happens next, libraries will continue to be here and able to serve our community,” she said.