This post first appeared on Federal News Network. Read the original article.
The largest source of federal funding for libraries and museums is putting all its employees on paid administrative leave, as the agency prepares for major cuts to its operations.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is planning to put nearly all of its 75-employee workforce on paid administrative leave, starting at the end of the day Monday, according to several IMLS employees.
IMLS employees expect the agency will soon cut more than half its workforce and will be reduced to only core statutory functions, under a recent executive order.
The American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403 said in a statement that IMBLS notified all employees that they would be placed on paid administrative leave “immediately,” following a brief meeting between staff from the Department of Government Employees and IMLS leadership.
“Employees were required to turn in all government property prior to exiting the building, and email accounts are being disabled today. Museums and libraries will no longer be able to contact IMLS staff for updates about the funding they rely upon,” the union wrote.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14 eliminating IMLS “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
The executive order also targets six other small agencies and programs — the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, U.S. Agency for Global Media, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and the Minority Business Development Agency.
“Such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law,” the executive order states.
The Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service last week terminated most of its employees and services, according to four employees who spoke to Federal News Network.
The agency saves about $500 million a year by resolving and preventing strikes and labor disputes in the private sector and across the federal workforce.
FMCS will go from a workforce of about 220 employees to a “skeleton crew” of approximately a dozen employees.
An IMLS employee told Federal News Network on March 20 that the agency may be cut down to 30 people and that some remaining staff may be moving to the Labor Department.
Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling was sworn in as the acting IMLS director on March 20, after Trump designated him to serve in the role. An IMLS employee said Sonderling briefly returned to IMLS last Friday
According to the employees, IMLS staffers were told in a March 17 town hall that the agency would soon look very different under Trump’s executive order, and “could be down to the studs,” in terms of overall staffing.
IMLS employees had until March 19 to apply for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) or Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP). Many agencies across the federal government are making the same offer to employees, before proceeding with layoffs through a nonvoluntary Reduction in Force.
IMLS is the primary source of federal support for U.S. libraries and museums. The agency supports them through grants, research and policy development. The agency has about 75 employees. As of fiscal 2024, it had an annual budget of nearly $295 million.
Among its services, IMLS issues library grants to each state and territory, based on population.
Those grants go toward a variety of state and local services — including workforce development, digital literacy, after-school programs for children, and field trips for students to visit museums and historical sites. The employee said IMLS is also a major source of funding for internet connectivity programs in rural areas.
An employee of a state library agency previously told Federal News Network that cuts to IMLS would have a ripple effect on her state’s library spending.
This is a developing story and will be updated
The post Agency funding libraries and museums puts all employees on leave ahead of major cuts first appeared on Federal News Network.