Wyoming libraries brace for ‘tremendous’ impacts of possible DOGE federal cuts

CASPER, Wyo. — Hoping for the best, and planning for the worst.

That’s how Natrona County Library Executive Director Lisa Scroggins described the mood as word spread that the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ entire staff in Washington D.C. was put on immediate leave this week.

“If they were to cut that funding that the IMLS provides to the state of Wyoming, that would have a tremendous negative impact on the libraries,” she said on Wednesday.

The IMLS is the main source of grant funding to libraries across the nation, according to the New York Times. Earlier this month, the Trump administration replaced the agency’s professional career librarian director with its own appointee after issuing an executive order to eliminate it along with other agencies. The American Library Association responded by saying, in part: “By eliminating the only federal agency dedicated to funding library services, the Trump administration’s executive order is cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions and the staff and services they offer.”

In Wyoming, grant funding from the IMLS is sent to the Wyoming State Library in Cheyenne, which then disperses funding to public and academic libraries around the state.

According to the IMLS website, Wyoming received around $1.23 million in the 2024 fiscal year, which Wyoming State Library’s State Librarian Abby Beaver says was roughly what it was expecting for the 2025 fiscal year.

Applications for the 2025 fiscal year have been sent in, but the Trump administration’s actions this week mean that no staff are available for the processing work.

“We’ve been receiving these grants since 1996 or so,” said Beaver during a phone interview on Tuesday. “We don’t know what their plan is from here on out — we haven’t actually heard anything from them directly since they’ve been put on administrative leave — so we’re kind of in a holding pattern,” she said.

The State Library is still using funding from the 2024 fiscal year, which makes up around one-third of its overall budget, she said. The library previously expected to be approved for its grant application near the end of April.

Lisa Scroggins says that a considerable amount of the grant funding goes to pay for the specialized computer program that allows all of the state libraries to track, share and check out books. “The platform is the ILS, and that is not an inexpensive purchase,” she said.

All of the libraries chip in with amounts determined by size and other factors. Without the grants, she said their expenses would increase “probably seven or eight times what we currently pay.”

“That would be a direct impact on us right here in Natrona County,” she said. “My biggest concern is the hit to our State Library, and how that would funnel down to Natrona County and to all of the libraries across the state.” Keeping staffing levels up would be one of her main concerns after losing the grants, she said.

Some museums can also benefit from the ILMS. The Science Zone recently received a special IMLS grant they called “Flexhibits Across Wyoming,” which allowed the organization to purchase two specialized hands-on interactive science exhibits that are sent on tour to libraries around the state.

“One’s a circuit bench, and one’s a rocket launcher,” said Science Zone Executive Director Steven Schnell. Starting in 2024, the exhibits were trucked to libraries in towns and cities around the state and left for roughly a month, allowing the Science Zone to extend its mission outside of Natrona County.

“It’s a $50,000 grant, and currently we have about $4,200 left,” he said. This should allow them to complete their planned tour for 2025, which involves less travel than the previous year. He said the outreach program has been a “game changer,” and even brought national attention in Science Magazine.

The exhibits encourage interaction, critical thinking, problem solving and communication, which are things that Schnell says are the kind of lessons needed to thrive in life. “This is exactly what the world needs, people who can problem solve and communicate, and this is what we’re providing,” he said.

Schnell said the organization considered other locations such as community halls, but decided that public libraries made the most sense.

“Libraries are where it’s at,” he said. “They are community hubs that have no limits on age. You have single folks with kids, families, little kids, whatever. It doesn’t matter who you are, you somehow find yourself at a library.”

“No matter who you are, there is something there for you.”

Scroggins said that the IMLS is efficiently run, and its mission benefits everyone, particularly small and rural communities such as most of those in Wyoming.

“I am hoping that DOGE will decide and see the impact that these funds have on communities throughout the United States, and that libraries are helping communities thrive and prepare people for the workforce, help businesses, and improve their community in all the things that we do,” she said.

“I hope they say, ‘Let’s not touch them, let’s go on somewhere else.’ I can’t crawl in their minds, but that’s my hope.”