📌 Take Action: 20 Actions You Can Take to Support Libraries
Libraries need our help.
Welcome to How to Resist, a newsletter that shares acts of nonviolent resistance, mutual aid, and community building for ordinary folks.
I hope this inspires new ideas and helps you discover ways to engage that are right for you. If you like this content, act on it! Find something today that speaks to you and make it happen! In the words of Thom Hartmann, “Activism begins with you, Democracy begins with you, get out there, get active! Tag, you're it!”
Why are we talking about libraries today?
On March 14, 2025, Trump signed an executive order ordering that seven federal agencies be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
This order included the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an independent government agency.1
On Monday, March 31st, the Trump administration placed the entire staff of the IMLS on administrative leave raising questions as to whether the agency will be able to fulfill its legal obligations to disperse congressionally appropriated funding.2
What does the IMLS do, exactly?
The IMLS is the largest source of federal funding for museums and libraries.3
The IMLS awards support libraries and museums through grants and research and policy development.
In 2024, IMLS awarded $266.7 million to advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations.
The IMLS supports:4
Libraries as centers of civic engagement
STEM learning in libraries and museums
Accessibility of programs, collections, and facilities
Broadband internet access to marginalized communities
Community collaborations through their Community Catalyst program
Workforce development and professional development for library and museum workers
Stewardship of our national heritage
Veterans and military families through their Community Salute program
Early learning
Making, innovating, and experimenting spaces
Now, more than ever, libraries need our help.
20 Actions You Can Take to Support Libraries
Read up on the executive order, the IMLS, and how it will affect libraries and museums (more resources can be found in the footnotes)
Use this script from 5Calls to call your representatives and urge them to save the IMLS
Get a library card and use it
Check out your library’s calendar and attend an event or program
Check out your library’s community spaces and find ways to use them
Attend library board meetings and consider running for a library board
Ask if your local library could use volunteers or donations of supplies
Work with your local library to arrange a congressional tour of your library
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper explaining why IMLS is important and the impact of federal dollars on communities
Share your story. The American Library Association is collecting stories of what libraries mean to people.
Leave a positive review of your local library online
Complete library surveys or feedback forms that will help libraries provide better services and demonstrate their value to stakeholders.
Join the Friends of the Library group for your local library
Show your library workers your appreciation
On #booktok or talking about books on Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook? Share a call for action with your network
Offer to teach or share your skills for library programs
Host a fundraiser, bake sale, plant sale, or garage sale to raise funds for the library.
Donate to a library endowment to ensure long-term financial stability.
Ask 5 other library-lovers to take action
Did you try something in this Action Kit?
We want to hear about it! What did you try, how did it go, what did you learn?! Share your experience in the comment section below.
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New York Times. Trump Orders Gutting of 7 Agencies, Including Voice of America’s Parent. March 15, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/us/politics/trump-order-voice-of-america.html
New York Times. “Trump Administration Moves to Shutter Library Agency” March 31, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/arts/design/library-agency-trump-museums.html?smid=url-share
ibid.
Institute of Library and Museum Services. Priority Areas. https://www.imls.gov/about/learn-about-imls/priority-areas
At-risk resource. This site is compiled and maintained by the IMLS.
Knowledge is power. Plantation owners knew this as did the early century industrialist cars. Don't abandon your last bastion of knowledge.