Budgets & Funding

At an atypical and uncertain moment in the budget cycle, libraries are looking beyond traditional revenue streams and funding partners.

On March 14, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) with immediate consequences for the nation’s libraries. EO 14238, “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” called for the elimination of seven government agencies—notably, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the federal agency dedicated to funding library services. With it, the administration moved to dismiss dozens of agency workers and to cut off at the knees one of the most trusted of American institutions. Librarians and their communities received this news with no clear answer about what would come next, leading to a period of uncertainty and, ultimately, resilience.

Will libraries pay the price for property tax reform?

Is the era of ephemeralization finally over or just beginning? LJ’s 2026 Periodicals Price Survey looks at how economic constraints may affect the landscape.

Results of last year’s library elections show strong support for existing work, but also caution about new initiatives.

Funding trends in 2025 reflected an unsettled landscape, with few identifiable trends and many questions about what the future may hold.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced February 20 that it has provided several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) with $1,725,261 in funding. The money was distributed among eight HBCUs and the HBCU Library Alliance toward projects that preserve U.S. history and develop the future workforce.

The November 4 elections across the country may have been local but taken as pieces of a larger picture they showed Democratic voters turning out in strength to make their voices heard—and a resounding message that voters value their libraries.

This January, more than 1,200 Carnegie libraries will be receiving $10,000 checks from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. These gifts anchor a $20 million initiative to celebrate the anniversary by supporting institutions and organizations that foster civic participation across the United States.