New Mexico State Library still has grant funding, despite federal library agency cuts

Federal grants for three state libraries have been rescinded, but New Mexico may escape the cuts.

The Grants to States program is the largest source of federal library funding. California, Washington and Connecticut state libraries were notified last week that their already authorized 2024 grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services have been ended.

The New Mexico State Library has a $1.8 million grant, which pays for bookmobiles in rural areas, the book-by-mail service, interlibrary loans, the statewide summer reading program, contributes funding for the Library for the Blind and pays the majority of the cost for databases used by school and university libraries, including the homework help service and access to historic newspapers. The grant makes up about a third of the state library’s budget and is supposed to run through September, said New Mexico State Librarian Eli Guinnee.

“It’s incredibly important,” Guinnee said.

The grants are tied to libraries’ five-year plans and based in part on population size. With the largest state population, California had the largest 2024 grant in the program for $15.7 million, and about 20% of that grant funding has not been sent to the state, according to a news release from the California State Library. The grant program reimburses library systems.

“State Library Agencies have already obligated and expended these funds in good faith, delivering services to their communities under federally approved plans,” said a statement from library advocacy group Every Library. “Terminating payments now is not only a policy failure — it is a breach of trust. IMLS owes these payments under the full faith and credit of the United States government.”

All three states with terminated grants had language about diversity, equity and inclusion in their five-year plans, Guinnee said. President Donald Trump’s administration has made eliminating DEI programs from the federal government a priority. Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his term to end all DEI programs and positions in the federal government.

“Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great,” the order reads.

The New Mexico State Library’s plan has no DEI language in it.

“So we’re hoping that, if that’s the impetus as it seems it is, then we won’t receive cuts,” Guinnee said. “However, there are plenty of other states that have not yet received termination letters that did have DEI initiatives in their plan.”

The best-case scenario would be the state keeping its grant and getting next year’s 2026 grant as expected. The worst-case scenario would be a grant termination letter, he said.

Even if New Mexico manages to keep its 2024 grant and is able to secure a 2025 grant, the state library system still faces a problem. The Trump administration has placed the majority of Institute of Museum and Library Services employees on administrative leave for up to 90 days. The New Mexico liaison has been fired, according to Guinnee.

Trump signed an executive order in March ordering the agency to be reduced to “the minimum presence and function required by law,” along with six other federal agencies. A group of 21 state attorneys general is suing the administration in an effort to stop the executive order. IMLS is funded through annual congressional appropriations.

The agency administers federal library grants, and conducts an annual survey of libraries evaluating how library services are used and to determine how to allocate funding.

“It’s absolutely critical for researchers who research libraries, critical for libraries to demonstrate their value. For us, all of our annual grants are tied to the annual report data,” Guinnee said. “So that system is how we determine which libraries are eligible and for the libraries to demonstrate that they’re meeting all of our eligibility requirements to receive state funding.”