Federal grants for Ohio libraries that were paused earlier this year due to the Trump administration’s cuts have been reinstated.
The grants were paused in March when nearly all Institute of Museum and Library Services employees were put on administrative leave. That pause has been lifted and the grant funding has been sent to libraries across the state, State Librarian Mandy Knapp said.
“It’s been a very confusing time," she said, "because we haven’t had a ton of communication back and forth.”
Knapp is unsure of what the future of federal funding for public libraries will look like, she said.
“It’s such a hard time in the world, and everyone feels very divided," she said. "But the library is really a place for everyone in the community. We buy both Barack Obama’s book, and we buy JD Vance’s book.”
The State Library of Ohio has received half of its yearly funds so far, which isn’t unusual under a continuing resolution, she said. Federal grants go toward summer reading programs and technology trainers in rural communities.
“It just creates a little spark of an idea that then takes hold, takes shape, gets bigger and just blossoms in a lot of different ways," she said.
The Briggs Lawrence County Public Library in Southern Ohio used federal grant funding recently to purchase a 3-D printer, which entrepreneurs have been using to create models of designs before sending them to manufacturers, Knapp said.
"If someone has a dream in that community of things they want to make, they can come into the library and make that dream happen," she said.
A few years ago, the Lorain Public Library used federal grant funding to put a WIFI transmitter on the library to increase internet access in the community, Knapp said.
"It's worked out so well that the city of Lorain has seen the library really take this on," she said, "and they're like, 'Oh man. How can we take what the library has learned and expand that reach?'"
States are also legally obligated to collect data on public libraries, which the IMLS keeps, but nearly everyone working in that department has been terminated, Knapp said.
"It's uncertain what that will look like in the future," she said. "Certainly, State Library of Ohio will still collect that data."
The uncertainty surrounding federal funding comes as the state legislature is considering eliminating its funding model for libraries. The current budget replaces the Public Library Fund with a line item amount for each fiscal year.
