The trustees of the Oak Park Public Library ask our community to take action in support of libraries—before July 21.
Background
President Trump’s budget proposal, submitted on May 30, 2025, calls for eliminating funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) starting in 2026. Additionally, Congress must reauthorize the Museum and Library Services Act by September 30, 2025, or the agency will cease operations entirely. Without both reauthorization and funding, IMLS cannot continue supporting libraries and museums across the country. This threatens resource sharing and innovations for everyone.
What’s at stake
Even though Oak Park Public Library is funded over 90% by local property taxes, the library depends on IMLS-supported systems such as RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System) and SWAN (System Wide Automated Network), which provide our community access to materials from other libraries and offer crucial training for library leadership. Losing IMLS would also eliminate future grant opportunities for programs that directly benefit our library and community.
Critical next step
The next critical step in continuing IMLS funding is ensuring the Appropriations Committee includes library funding in its budget. The Oak Park Library Board of Trustees strongly encourages you to reach out to our representatives—including Senator Durbin, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee—and emphasize that IMLS reauthorization and funding are vital to our community.
Please use the button above or this link to “Send a message to your lawmakers“. Both links go directly to an American Library Association advocacy page.