Keith Sonderling was appointed acting director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services on March 20, replacing acting director Cyndee Landrum. Sonderling, recently confirmed by the United States Senate as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor, was given the post by President Donald Trump in the wake of a March 14 executive order from the White House, which calls for the elimination of the IMLS “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
AFGE Local 30—the union representing the IMLS and other federal agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Endowment for the Humanities—reported that Sonderling was sworn in at the IMLS building on Thursday, accompanied by security and personnel from the Department of Government Efficiency. The news comes shortly after the union issued a statement acknowledging instructions it received from the Trump administration on Thursday, noting that it “expects that most employees will be placed on administrative leave over the weekend or Monday. It remains unclear whether funding for existing grantees will continue, and whether new grants will be available in the future.”
While this is not the first time Trump has sought to eliminate IMLS, with his administration proposing to cut the agency every year during his first term, the methodology this time is different. In lieu of calling for the elimination of IMLS in an annual budget blueprint—a proposal Congress had heretofore resoundingly rejected—the president has acted via executive order, reaching around congress via the advisory body DOGE. Federal employee unions including AFGE have challenged the legality of firing probationary workers, who have been a particular target of the orders. Siding with the unions and with 19 state attorneys general, two judges ordered on March 13 that the workers be rehired, although the situation remains unresolved.
Attempts to reach an email address associated with the IMLS and its listed media contact, U.S. Department of Labor deputy assistant secretary of public affairs Courtney Parella, resulted in an automated reply on March 20 from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. PCAH’s website is inactive, and its Instagram account has not been updated since December 2024, during the Biden Administration.
Library advocates clarify the law
On March 20, the American Library Association released a letter warning Sonderling not to cut IMLS programs required by law. Signed by Alan S. Inouye, ALA’s senior director of public policy and government relations and interim associate executive director, the letter outlined the IMLS’s statutory requirements, argued for the need for authorized staffing of 91 full-time employees, and reminded Sonderling of the provisions of the Museum and Library Services Act, enacted in 1996 and reauthorized as law by the Trump Administration in 2018.
Inouye also noted that, on March 15, the U.S. President signed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025, allowing for the continuation of MLSA’s appropriations at the amount set in fiscal 2024. “In that law, Congress provided $294.8 million and directed IMLS to use those funds to carry out the requirements of MLSA,” Inouye wrote.
Political action committee EveryLibrary, which created resources this week to help IMLS supporters contact their representatives, sign petitions, and write letters, affirmed the IMLS’s mandated role under MLSA. The agency “must continue implementing Congress’s appropriations as enacted in the current federal budget,” EveryLibrary posted, affirming the IMLS’s “duty under the law."
EveryLibrary stated that the nonpartisan IMLS “does not exist to promote political ideology; it ensures access to knowledge, history, and culture for all Americans. Any attempts to undermine this mission—through ideological funding restrictions, biased program administration, or politically motivated policy changes—would be a gross overreach and a violation of IMLS’s mandate.”
In an official statement, Sonderling attested: “I am committed to steering this organization in lockstep with this Administration to enhance efficiency and foster innovation. We will revitalize IMLS and restore focus on patriotism, ensuring we preserve our country’s core values, promote American exceptionalism, and cultivate love of country in future generations.”
EveryLibrary executive director John Chrastka said that the IMLS has been representing national identity all along.
“I hope the new acting director quickly comes to understand that IMLS supports the institutions that safeguard American values every day,” Chrastka told PW. He noted that “all five freedoms of the First Amendment are practiced in our libraries,” and that “every IMLS grant recipient must certify that they will follow Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which guarantees non-discrimination. Libraries are fundamentally Constitutional organizations that support every American without fear or favor. That is something that the administration could learn from.”
