A Change in Federal Funding:

Many people have written to the library asking about a new executive order that cuts the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the federal agency charged with distributing congressionally approved funds to libraries. 

The potential effects to libraries in our area include:

• Higher costs for ebooks, audiobooks, and research databases.
• Fewer grants that offset the costs of professional development and library programing. 
• Limited service/no service from the state’s talking book, braille, and prison programs. 
• No federal/state grants for establishing new services (like our incubator kitchen)

The bottom line is that library funding is going to get harder over the next year and our library must operate more independently. 

The good news is we have a fantastic community of strong library supporters, and most of our funding comes from local sources. 

The work of the Mount Vernon Library Foundation continues to fill gaps in funding through their support of innovative library programs that are accessible to everyone in our community and even supports the launch of new innovative programs (such as kitchen incubator program) which are especially important during times of uncertainty. I encourage you to support them (like I do). 

Our library is an enormous benefit to our community, and I appreciate everyone who supports it. 

Thank you all! 

Sincerely,

Isaac Huffman

Library Director