Dear Editor,
We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the March 14, 2025 executive order to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and its potential impact on residents of Lake County, Minnesota. In addition, as of Monday, March 31st, the New York Times reported that all IMLS staff were put on administrative leave for 90 days and funding to projects paused. This independent federal agency has been a cornerstone in supporting libraries and museums, which are vital to our community’s educational, cultural, and economic well-being.
While daily operation of the Silver Bay and Two Harbors Libraries are funded by city, county and local government sources, many of our digital resources and access to physical resources from around the state are provided through federal funding. The state receives $3.18 million of federal funds which allows for statewide sharing of resources eliminating duplication of services and creates efficiencies for libraries across the state.
Locally these funds provide our communities access to digital resources including eLibrary Minnesota, EbooksMN, and the Minnesota Digital Library. These resources provide education and research resources including encyclopedia, magazine, journal, and newspaper articles as well as multimedia content, and historical documents and records from MN counties and historical societies.
These funds also pay for our statewide interlibrary loan system and catalog (MNLINK) that has over 10 million items. This system allows patrons of the Silver Bay and Two Harbors to access resources from all over the state.
On a daily basis the library staff make requests for our patrons from this system. We take great pride in the fact that we can fulfill almost any request for resources for our patrons because of this system. A small library of our size does not have the budget or space to hold such an expansive collection and our community relies on access to this wide array of materials. The loss of interlibrary loan will turn our library collections into islands without bridges.
The IMLS also provides grants to both states and individual libraries. Both Two Harbors and Silver Bay have received grants funded by IMLS. In 2023, Silver Bay received $10,000 from the ALA Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities grant supporting the library addition and renovation project and Two Harbors has received two grants. Iin 2021, the Two Harbors Public Library received a $20,000 LSTA grant for STEAM programming and technology. In 2023 the Two Harbors Public Library received a $10,000 grant from the LTC program to be more dementia friendly.
Finally, these federal funds pay for staff positions at the state level as well as the operating funding for the Braille and Talking Library which provides access to resources for ALL Minnesotans.
While the elimination of this critical resource only creates a minimal savings of 0.0046% to the federal budget, it sets small rural libraries back 50 years to times where access to digital resources were limited and/or didn’t exist.
This is a call to action! We encourage you to advocate for your access to these important resources our libraries provide and reach out to our elected officials to oppose this short-sighted decision and advocate for the preservation of IMLS funding. Visit 5calls.org for information about contacting your representative.
Libraries are not luxuries—they are lifelines for rural communities like Lake County. Let us stand together to ensure that these vital, nonpartisan institutions continue to serve future generations.
Sincerely,
Your Silver Bay Public Library Board
Two Harbors Public Library
Friends of the Silver Bay Public Library
