Beside shelves of nonfiction and mystery novels, Chloe Gauthier tapped on the screen of a smartphone. She wasn’t just scrolling – she was coaching.
As Ada Public Library’s technology trainer, she showed visitor Tom Reams how to get rid of unwanted apps on his phone. Thanks to sessions like these, Reams knows how to better connect with family over social media and how to use his computer to keep track of medical information.
“I had a heart failure. First thing in the morning I weigh myself, I get my medicines, maybe an hour later I do my blood pressure … so that's easy to do with a computer,” Reams said.
This kind of technological training is not just offered in rural northwest Ohio. It’s at more than 30 libraries across the state as a part of the Guiding Ohio Online program, which helps older and rural residents learn digital literacy skills.
But its future is on shaky ground. Earlier this year, a federal agency that supports libraries across the U.S. suddenly went dark. It left Ohio’s small town libraries, like Ada Public Library, in limbo. Even as the agency begins to distribute funding again, Ohio library leaders are struggling to plan for the future.
IMLS funding under threat
In March, President Donald Trump effectively shut down the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Trump issued an executive order to shrink the agency down to its statutory minimum, as part of a wider effort to eliminate waste and federal bureaucracy.
That order cut staff at the institute and stopped money flowing to the State Library of Ohio.
“We take this federal money and we just spread it, we stretch it out as far as it'll go,” said Mandy Knapp, state librarian and executive director of the State Library of Ohio. “It's just a little spark that lights a larger fire.”
The federal institute’s funds make up a third of the State Library’s budget at $5.4 million annually, according to Knapp.
After six weeks of limbo, half of those federal dollars were reinstated last week. But Knapp said it’s unclear whether the rest will come through. That means prolonged uncertainty, which makes it difficult to plan the future of services like the Talking Book Program, which offers access to books for people who are visually impaired.
Central Ohio resident Shawn Thiel is blind and has been using the program since he was in third grade. He hopes the target on the IMLS won’t disrupt what he calls a “vital” program.
“I can't overstate how important it is to those of us who use it. People use it every single day,” Thiel said.
IMLS funding also helps the State Library of Ohio operate statewide book sharing programs, a digital library of ebooks and audiobooks and free online resources for school libraries.
“These are vital programs for everyday people that are operating in the background,” Knapp said.
Small towns will be hit the hardest
If the rest of the money isn't restored, Ohio small towns will feel funding losses the most, Knapp said. The State Library uses the federal funding to shore up services of rural libraries so they can match those of metros, despite having smaller populations and smaller tax bases.
For example, she said they give grants for equipment like 3D printers that otherwise would be inaccessible to rural residents.
Sam Norris, director of the Mary Lou Johnson Hardin County District Library in Kenton, said federally funded programs enable them to act as more than just a place to check out books. Norris says his library acts as a true community center.
“We offer notary services, copy, fax. In a small town like ours, we don't have a Kinko's or an Office Max, someone that does all those things for you,” Norris said. “So we kind of by default become those folks.”
Impact so far
Knapp is optimistic that the rest of the funds will be restored, especially since a federal judge recently issued a preliminary injunction on Trump’s order.
Still, libraries across the country have already begun to feel the effects. The State Library of Maine announced it was suspending services and cutting some staff due to funding losses.
In Ohio, Knapp said no programs have been eliminated, but the State Library did have to delay grants for summer reading programs.
The Ohio Newsroom reached out to Trump’s IMLS appointee, Keith Sonderling, and didn’t hear back. But, in a statement to POLITICO, Trump administration representatives have defended the restructuring, saying it was necessary to “ensure hard-earned tax dollars are not diverted to discriminatory DEI initiatives or divisive, anti-American programming in our cultural institutions.”
An uncertain future
With so much uncertainty and staff drastically reduced at IMLS, it’s difficult for Ohio rural libraries to map a way forward. At the same time, Ohio legislators have proposed funding changes to the state’s library budget. They have until July to finalize the state’s two-year spending plan.
In the meantime, libraries, like Norris’s, are stuck waiting for answers. They fear they could face losses on both state and federal levels.
“It's all on the table and you really can't plan for a storm when you don't know when the storm's gonna hit.”
Still, Knapp, with the state library of Ohio, is hopeful for the long-term.
“There's all types of things that will divide us today. But there are still places in the community where everyone can go and come together and put differences aside and connect. And the library is that place.”
