President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget recommendation, “A Budget for America’s Future,” once again proposes to eliminate funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services. While this is the fourth year that the President’s budget recommendation has proposed eliminating IMLS, Congress has actually increased funding for the agency over that time period.
In Wyoming, IMLS funding through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) supports statewide projects such as WYLDCAT, interlibrary loan, e-content, databases, training, and support of the Wyoming’s 13 state institution libraries. In past years, Wyoming has received approximately $900,000 annually in support of these projects that help improve library services for every resident of Wyoming, down to those in the smallest communities.
The American Library Association, Wyoming Library Association, Chief Officers of State Library Agencies, and other organizations will be closely monitoring this situation.
The State Library administers IMLS funding for Wyoming. For more details on the projects that federal funds support in this state, see library.wyo.gov/about/lsta.
Questions about LSTA funding in Wyoming? Contact State Librarian Jamie Markus at jamie.markus@wyo.gov or (307) 777-5914.