5-22-2025 4:07am

State Library Head Warns of Cuts

Alan Earls Editor

The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) is warning the state's library patrons that the changes in federal funding priorities will be rippling down to the local level in coming months -- though the impact will also depend on local funding choices.

On March 14, 2025 President Trump signed Executive Order 14238 eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." IMLS is the single largest source of critical federal funding for libraries. Through IMLS' Grants to States Program, for FY2025 the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) was allocated $3.6 million to support statewide library services and grants to local libraries. In the weeks that followed the executive order, IMLS staff were placed on administrative leave and in the President’s FY2026 budget, IMLS is eliminated (pg. 39 under Small Agency Eliminations).

At the recent annual Massachusetts Library Association conference, MBLC Director Maureen Amyot addressed the impact of ongoing federal uncertainty caused by the executive order and spoke about the MBLC’s efforts to preserve as many federally funded statewide services as possible. Director Amyot announced the FY2026 plan for statewide research databases, the statewide eBook program, and the Commonwealth Catalog.

"The federal impact cannot be overstated. In Massachusetts, over 1,600 school, public, academic and special libraries from across the state benefit from federal IMLS funding. Millions of people rely on federally funded library services,” she said. "Developing a plan for services in an environment of almost daily federal change has been challenging, but our goal has remained constant: to maintain services that are integral to the functioning of our system and heavily relied on by the people of the Commonwealth."

Starting on July 1, 2025, statewide research database offerings will be significantly reduced. However, the MBLC and the Massachusetts Library System (MLS), which jointly fund databases, will maintain several of the most heavily used. The MBLC spends close to $2.2 million of its federal allocation to fund statewide research databases, an amount that cannot be made up in state funding. For FY2026, the eBook content grant to Networks from MBLC’s state line 9506 will likely be funded at $500,000*, which will allow for $500,000 funding in that line to go towards databases. MLS will increase its support for databases by $18,575 to a total of $670,575. Overall, combined database funding from MBLC and MLS will go from $2.8 million to $1.17 million.

"The President has determined that the Institute of Museum and Library Services is 'unnecessary.' But we know the opposite to be true. We know that welcoming ALL, including diverse voices in our collections, and providing free and equitable access to library services make public libraries the cornerstone of a free democratic society,” said Director Amyot. "Libraries change people’s lives. That’s why these reductions in critical library services hurt. But we’re in this for the long game and in the year ahead we’ll continue to work with local, state and federal partners to stabilize library funding and services."

The list below details which databases will be available or cut as of July 1, 2025.

FY2026 Discontinued Products

Boston Globe Article Archive
Britannica Moderna
Gale Academic OneFile Select
Gale General OneFile
Gale Health and Wellness
Gale in Context: Biography
Gale in Context: Elementary
Gale in Context: Environmental Studies
Gale in Context: Global Issues
Gale in Context: Middle School
Gale in Context: Science
Gale in Context: US History
Gale in Context: World History
Gale Interactive Science
Gale LegalForms
Gale Literature Resource Center
HeritageQuest Online
Peterson's Career Prep
Peterson's Test Prep
Science Database (ProQuest)
Transparent Language Online

FY2026 Continued Products

Britannica Escolar
Britannica Library
Britannica School
Gale Academic OneFile + OneFile Collections
Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints
PebbleGo

Many factors were considered in determining which databases to maintain. The expedited timeline did not allow for direct input from the library community, but database usage was a major consideration. Providing databases that support students at every level of learning: elementary, middle, high school, and to some extent college, was also a key factor. In addition, the MBLC has a statutory obligation to provide general reference.

Support for the statewide Library eBooks and audiobooks (LEA) program will continue. The Libby eBook platform that allows eBooks to be shared across the state will be fully funded from the state budget. The state funded eBook content grant will likely be funded at $500,000*. Residents borrowed close to two million eBooks and audiobooks through LEA last year, an increase of 19% in just one year.

Full funding for the Commonwealth Catalog (ComCat) will also continue for FY2026. ComCat gives Massachusetts residents access to millions of items that their own library network doesn’t have. More than 103,000 items were borrowed through ComCat last year.

Maintaining these services comes with the elimination of services that were announced in April and the MBLC anticipates announcing further reductions in the coming weeks.

In Massachusetts there were 28 million visits to public libraries last year and people borrowed more than 59 million items. Since 1996, federal funding from IMLS has been essential in ensuring the Commonwealth’s residents have equitable access to library services regardless of geographic location, social or economic status, age, level of physical or intellectual ability, or cultural background, MBLC said.

Local Details

According to the Franklin Library, some databases come from the library's own budget, and Minuteman Library Network will sometimes fund one or two databases. But pretty much all of the library's academic resources, and some specialty resources (like Transparent Languages) are provided by Mass. board of library commissioners. Franklin (and Dean and Medway) patrons will see that entire list of state provided databases disappear.

Franklin funds the following list, most of which will likely remain available: