Local opinion: Federal support is disappearing for Arizona's libraries and museums

I have fond childhood memories of serendipitously discovering books at my local public library that undoubtedly influenced who I am today — books that showed me girls could excel in sports and others that opened my eyes to challenging societal issues. Perhaps you can trace similar threads from the shelves of your local library to where you are today.

Libraries and museums are the heart and soul of our educational and cultural communities. They are one of society’s great equalizers, providing opportunities and access to information, discovery, and resources for all.

Many of Arizona’s libraries and museums count on federal funding from a little-known agency — the Institute of Museum and Library Services — to provide those resources.

At this moment, however, Arizona is on the verge of losing this critical funding with the federal government’s decision to shutter IMLS and terminate millions of dollars in grant awards. To be clear, the IMLS budget is modest — less than $300 million annually, a mere .003% of the entire federal budget — but its impact is huge.

For Arizona, the elimination of IMLS means the loss of over $5 million in annual funding that directly supports our rural, urban, tribal, academic, public, and private libraries and museums. IMLS’s Grants to States program alone allocates $3.8 million annually to the Arizona State Library that, in turn, distributes funds to Arizona’s libraries — from Yavapai to Yuma, Page to Pima County. These dollars power digital literacy programs, expand educational initiatives, provide workforce development and job training, preserve Indigenous culture and language, and digitize historical collections that tell our state’s unique story.

In addition to IMLS’s Grants to States program, IMLS awards millions of dollars annually through competitive national grant programs. Many of southern Arizona’s vibrant cultural and educational institutions have been recent recipients, including the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Reid Park Zoo, Children’s Museum of Tucson, Tohono O’odham Nation Venito Garcia Library, Ak-Chin Indian Community Library, Copper Queen Library (Bisbee), Pinal County Historical Society, and the University of Arizona’s College of Information Science and Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library.

These grants support STEM programs for rural families, fund collaborative science initiatives that engage students in hands-on research, preserve history, and serve Tribal communities’ core library services and collections.

IMLS awards extend throughout Arizona and include the Heard Museum, Desert Botanical Garden, Arizona Science Center, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Verde Valley Archaeological Center, Musical Instrument Museum, Arizona State University Art Museum, and Arizona State University Library. More than half of Arizona’s federally recognized Tribes have been awarded IMLS grants for their libraries, colleges, and museums in the last 3 years.

Together, these organizations — large and small, local and international — represent the rich tapestry of Arizona’s cultural landscape, and all are empowered by IMLS funding to enhance their educational missions and community engagement initiatives. For every dollar invested in these institutions, communities see returns through improved literacy, better job outcomes, unique cultural opportunities, and substantial contributions to the state’s economy.

What can we do to preserve IMLS funding?

While IMLS funding is emphatically not an ideological or partisan issue, it is a critical issue for states and communities, and we can all participate in the national effort to preserve IMLS by contacting our congressional representatives and inviting them to join us in supporting our libraries and museums. The American Library Association’s IMLS advocacy site, Show Up for Our Libraries, makes it easy.

The Museum Association of Arizona and the Arizona Library Association are advocating on behalf of Arizona and IMLS, alongside an independent IMLS Board of Directors and a group of bipartisan politicians in Washington.

Several of Arizona’s elected officials have taken a stand, also, including Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, in collaboration with other state attorneys general, and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, whose press release lists dozens of Arizona libraries that will be impacted by IMLS’s elimination.

What’s at stake isn’t merely buildings with books and artifacts, but our shared commitment to an informed society where every person has equal access to discovery and enlightenment. Our museums and libraries shaped us; now we must ensure they thrive to shape generations to come.