[Libs-Or] Federal funding for libraries in Oregon

[CORNELISEN Wendy * SLO]

Oregon library community,

Thank you for your work. Libraries are essential to communities, and I'm so proud of the work that you're doing every day for Oregonians.

Many of you have heard and asked about the now blocked and rescinded order to freeze all federal payments on grants and loans<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/28/trump-pauses-grants-loans>. Some programs offered by the State Library are federally funded, as are a few of the grants or projects at some of your local libraries. We want to provide you context regarding federal funding and State Library services.


  *   Federal funds from the Library Services and Technology Act<https://www.imls.gov/find-funding/funding-opportunities/grants-to-states/purpose-and-priorities-of-lsta> (LSTA) Grants to States program were among the programs that would have been halted under the order.
  *   LSTA accounts for about a quarter of the State Library's biennial budget<https://www.oregon.gov/library/operations/Documents/54300%20-%20State%20Library.pdf>, and about two-thirds of the Library Support and Development Services (LS) division's budget.
  *   The Institute of Museum and Library Services<Institute%20of%20Museum%20and%20Library%20Services> (IMLS), the federal agency that oversees LSTA, has indicated that there currently is no freeze on our LSTA funding. Our access to this funding has not been interrupted. We have also not been asked to change how or what we use our federal funding for based on other recent executive orders.
  *   All grant applications and other LSTA-funded projects are proceeding as planned.
  *   LSTA dollars fund a number of services used by libraries across Oregon:
     *   Two-thirds of LS staff<https://www.oregon.gov/library/libraries/Pages/Contact.aspx>, including consultants who advise on public libraries, children's and teen services, early literacy, digital equity, continuing education, community outreach, reference services, school libraries, intellectual freedom, digitization, and public library data.
     *   The Statewide Database Licensing Program<https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/SDLP_FAQ/>, which includes statewide access to the Gale suite of electronic resources as well as subsidies to academic libraries to purchase more appropriate content for their needs.
     *   Statewide access to iREAD Summer Reading Programs<https://www.ireadprogram.org/> for all public libraries.
     *   Northwest Digital Heritage<https://www.northwestdigitalheritage.org/>, which aggregates digital collections from libraries, museums, and other institutions around the Pacific Northwest and makes them searchable in one place.
     *   Various grant programs including annual competitive grants<https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/lstagrants/competitive>, teen internship grants<https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/lstagrants/teeninterns>, and other opportunities<https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/lstagrants/awards>.
        *   Please note that Ready to Read grants are not federally funded. Those grants are funded through from the State's General Fund.
     *   Statewide and regional projects such as the Sage Library System<https://www.sagelib.org/> courier, the Oregon Digital Library Consortium/Library2Go<https://library2go.overdrive.com/>, and digitization of Chemawa Indian School materials and Tribal newspapers.
     *   A wide variety of programs operated by the Oregon Library Association including Oregon Battle of the Books<https://www.oregonbattleofthebooks.org/>, Libros for Oregon<https://www.librosfororegon.org/>, OSLIS<https://oslis.org/>, Overdue: Weeding Out Oppression in Libraries<https://www.olaweb.org/ola-edi-antiracism-committee---Podcast> podcast, and professional development scholarships<https://www.olaweb.org/ola-edi-antiracism-scholarships>.
     *   Answerland<https://answerland.org/>, the state's 24/7 online library chat reference service.
     *   A variety of continuing education opportunities<https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/conted> for Oregon library staff and volunteers including the Oregon Library Staff Academy<http://my.nicheacademy.com/oregonstaff> on Niche Academy, library board resources<https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/publibboard/training> such as the newly released board handbook<https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/publibboard/handbook>, and special training such as the Libraries Leading with Equity<https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/conted/leadingwithequity>.

Right now, our federal funds are available. There's still a lot that we don't know. We will keep you updated as we are able.

We cannot predict what federal actions will be taken. However, we are keeping informed of developments. The State Library remains committed to the priorities and objectives<https://www.oregon.gov/library/libraries/Documents/LSTA/2023-2027LSTAFiveYearPlanSummary.pdf> established in our current LSTA plan, including and especially our commitments to support your efforts to make libraries more equitable, diverse, inclusive, and antiracist. We made those commitments based on clear feedback from you, the State of Oregon's DEI Action Plan<https://www.oregon.gov/das/Docs/DEI_Action_Plan_2021.pdf>, and simply because it is the right thing to do. Until we are told otherwise and as long as we have the funds to do so, the State Library will continue supporting this and the other essential work being done with LSTA funds in Oregon.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Program Manager for Library Support Buzzy Nielsen (buzzy.nielsen at slo.oregon.gov<mailto:buzzy.nielsen at slo.oregon.gov>, 971-375-3486) or me. We may not have answers, but we will listen.


Thanks,

Wendy

Wendy Cornelisen (she, her, hers)
State Librarian
State Library of Oregon
wendy.cornelisen at slo.oregon.gov<mailto:wendy.cornelisen at slo.oregon.gov>
Office: 503-378-4367| Mobile 971-375-3992
www.oregon.gov/library<http://www.oregon.gov/library>
[Title: State Library of Oregon]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20250214/e9a7bdf0/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 20692 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20250214/e9a7bdf0/attachment.png>