House budget proposal dismisses role of IMLS

In a new budget released from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) denounces the critical role that the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) plays in supporting civic engagement, literacy and lifelong learning in more than 123,000 libraries nationwide.

Chairman Ryan recommends that the federal government not have a role in libraries and that Congress shift the federal agency’s responsibilities to the private sector in his 2015 fiscal year budget resolution.

American Library Association (ALA) President Barbara Stripling released the following statement in response to Rep Ryan’s budget: “We were shocked to learn that Representative Paul Ryan recommended eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the agency that administers the primary source of federal funding to libraries. Libraries depend on the support they receive from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to help patrons learn new skills, find job opportunities and access reading materials that they otherwise could not afford.

More than $180 million has been allocated to the Institute for Museum and Library Services through September 2014 to help libraries make information available to the citizens they serve. In Chairman Ryan’s own state of Wisconsin, more than 65 percent of libraries report that they are the only free access to Internet in their communities. Just blocks from Chairman Ryan’s Wisconsin office, more than 716,000 visitors used the Hedberg Public Library in Janesville, Wisconsin to access library computers and research databases, check out books and receive job training in 2013.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services administered more than $2.8 million in the 2014 fiscal year to help Wisconsin libraries prepare young students for school and provide lifelong learning opportunities for all Wisconsin residents. For example, the state reported that more than 215,000 children participated in summer reading programs at Wisconsin public libraries.