As The Ides Of March Approaches, Let Us All Remember It Not As The Day Caesar Was Stabbed A Whole Bunch,

June 5th can't come fast enough

"And I'm trying my best to stand up for you in every way I can." 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

hey hi hello so as the US goes through this ~ hostile government takeover ~ Trump signed an executive order last week to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). On Thursday (3/20) DOGE attempted to quietly raid IMLS but staff there posted to reddit and the unwanted media attention led them to put a pause on the takeover, for now. Trump replaced the director of IMLS with Keith Sonderling, who very openly stated that his goals are to "promote patriotism" and "American exceptionalism". We worry grants will be more dependent on whether your institution supports DEI [or anyone who isn't a white hetero cis amab].

A lot of libraries depend on IMLS grants! If they go away we will lose librarians and libraries may close, or at least significantly decrease their services. This will affect funding for technology classes, free resources for the blind, summer reading, databases, free internet access assistance, and interlibrary loans among other things. As the administration also targets social security, immigration, and other safety nets, libraries are attempting to fill the gap for the public, and things will get much harder without reliable funding.

This is also IN ADDITION to the administration calling book bans "fake" and some states attempting to pass laws to criminalize librarians, with fears in the library world that they will also try to make it a federal crime to promote or otherwise provide access to "inappropriate materials" which have included books that promote "gender ideology" or basically any character that isn't a white heterosexual cis amab. That is one of the cornerstones of Project 2025. This IMLS takeover will only make things worse, and make it harder for people to access information.

Personally, we have been told by our director to be very careful and not talk about this while at work because of fears of retaliation, we have had several calls from the public to remove books with gay characters (we didn't), and as an adult services librarian, I am already seeing an impact on databases I help the public use. Medline Plus, the only free and easy-to-use medical encyclopedia for the public I have been able to find, is a US government website and already has warnings above certain pages about the "harms of gender ideology". This warning can be seen above pages on health disparities and abortion.

If you're so inclined and live in the US, the ALA put together a portal that makes it easy to email your reps with a script. You can find the portal here. I would also recommend investing in your local library, post on social media what services you use, sign up for a library card and see how many resources you can access for free. Many state library associations collect user stories of libraries so they can show their stakeholders they matter. Like my library, it is likely that staff have been warned not to discuss this at work because of fears of retaliation, so try not to talk to librarians about this at work.

General advocacy page:

Article from NPR about the takeover:

NPR

Federal agency responsible for library and museum funding gets a visit from DOGE

Keith E. Sonderling is the new acting head of The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the main source of federal funding for libraries

What happens if IMLS goes away:

Library Journal

What Happens to Libraries if IMLS Goes Away?

On Friday night, March 14, President Trump issued an Executive Order that called for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library

A report on how much museums give back to the US economy:

American Alliance of Museums

Museums as Economic Engines

Museums play an essential role in cultural and social life across the US. They tell our stories, preserve our heritage, interpret the past,

An interactive map of what IMLS funds in the US:

imls.gov

IMLS Interactive Map

stop trying to be palatable, stop trying to be palatable, stop

Video captions: And stop trying to show your ex what they missed out on! Stop trying to teach your family a lesson for not believing in you! Stop trying to shit on your haters! Do it for you! Do it because you deserve it! Do it for YOU! Water your dreams with love! Don’t put no hate and resentment, and try to — “oh Imma fucking show them, Imma show” — FUCK THEM! Fuck them, do it for you! They don’t matter! They NEVER mattered.

I’m going to hold onto my community, friends, and loved ones as tight and as close as I can. We have to be there for each other. We are all we have, and that is the most important thing to me.

hate when someone asks how are you and you say good how are you and they say "oh not so great" or something. it's always like ohh okay i see we're being honest i thought we were playing pretend. can i have a do-over

do you ever have such a monumentally bad brain day that you just take away its mic?

like...... buddy, you are producing insanely bad thoughts today and believing them, I'll take it from here, get off the stage

hiiii im kinda late to the blue eye samurai party but uhhh idk if im having gender envy or am in love or both. but yeah anyway he'res my first post on tumblr hello tumblr