Michigan libraries fear major programming cuts following Trump executive order
President Donald Trump’s attempt to eliminate the federal agency that oversees American libraries has local library officials in Michigan concerned about the future.

Millions of Michiganders visit their local library every year, but some of the library programming residents have come to rely on could vanish under President Donald Trump’s administration’s plans to reduce federal spending.
Trump issued an executive order in March calling for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the federal agency that oversees American libraries and their funding. Funding challenges for libraries are nothing new, said Diane Golzynski, a deputy superintendent with the Michigan Department of Education, but the $4.8 million Michigan receives from the institute annually is essential in some pockets of the state.
“Those funds are critical,” Golzynski said at a May 13 State Board of Education meeting, “especially for those rural and low-income urban and suburban libraries that don’t have the local taxpayer base to provide additional supports and services needed for their community.”
During the meeting, board members heard a presentation on the importance of two federally funded Michigan library programs: the Michigan eLibrary and the MeL Catalog.
MeL, the Michigan eLibrary, provides access to magazines, newspapers, reference books, eBooks, and more. Last year, Michigan residents downloaded roughly 19 million articles and journals through MeL.
MeLCat, the MeL Catalog, offers access to physical books and other items from over 400 public, academic, and school libraries around the state. One million items were circulated throughout Michigan using MeLCat in 2024.
Both programs face funding shortfalls under Trump’s March executive order targeting the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The actions outlined in the executive order are currently on pause after Judge John J. McConnell, chief judge of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the order in response to a lawsuit filed by 21 state attorneys general, including Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, seeking to overturn the order.
“These agencies serve important roles and their destruction could reshape whole communities,” Nessel said in an April press release. “The absolute vitality of local public and school libraries to our children’s education and development just cannot be overstated, in addition to the countless other benefits a local library provides.”
The state budget for the Library of Michigan — the statewide entity responsible for administering MeL and MeLCat — has remained relatively stagnant since the 1990s, only increasing about $200,000 over the last 15 years, according to Randy Riley, the state’s top librarian. He said he’s concerned about the ability to run the programs in the long term if they lose access to federal dollars.
A majority of public library budgets come from local taxpayer dollars, while the state provides funding that is divvied up based on population among Michigan’s 400 public libraries. Since library funding is inconsistent across the state, the federal support helps to alleviate those disparities.
“We are very worried about losing the federal funding, and what that would mean. It would be very hard to continue MeL and MeLCat in that environment, and to lose those resources would be very hard on a lot of the communities in Michigan that need it the most,” Riley said.
Glenn Fischer, the director of DeWitt District Library, said that despite public perception that the internet has made libraries inessential, the library is at the heart of the DeWitt community. He emphasized that MeLCat has been a vital resource for people looking to solve a problem, go on a job search or obtain their favorite book.
“MeLCat turns a conversation at the circulation desk from, ‘I’m sorry I can’t get that for you’ to, ‘Yes, we can have that, and it’ll be here in a few days,’” Fischer said.
The Clinton-Macomb Public Library exceeds 1.6 million checkouts annually, and about 30,000 students are served, according to its director, Larry Neal. He said visitors get expanded access from the library’s 700,000-item in-house collection to the 34 million items shared through MeLCat, subsequently saving the library time and money.
The Clinton-Macomb Public Library conducted a survey recently that found that 74% of respondents, or about 3,000 people, felt the programs were a good use of tax dollars.
“These services are highly valued by my community and worth funding,” Neal said. “The funding amount is a tiny, tiny drop in the state budget and a subatomic particle in the federal budget. It’s hard to think of a much more efficient use of tax dollars than MeL and MeLCat available to every resident in the state to enhance reading, learning, research and more.”
Riley said that if federal funding disappears, the MeL and MeLCat programs would also disappear or, at the very least, be significantly altered. If that were to happen, Michigan would have to adopt a “pay-to-play” model used in other states, which would force local libraries to pay for the programs themselves. Riley said he’s reluctant to take that route, however, because many libraries wouldn’t be able to afford it.
“We do have some state funding for MeL as well, so it might allow us to keep part of something going,” Riley said. “But as robust and complete as it is now, there’s no way that we could do it in the same way.”