BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Last week was National Library Week, which the National Library Association said celebrates "the valuable role libraries, librarians and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening our communities."
But this year, the week of recognition took on additional significance.
It came after President Trump issued an executive order last month to immediately shut down the Institute of Museums and Library Sciences, the federal agency that funds libraries, and put its entire staff on administrative leave.
“If there ever was a time to celebrate, please do it this week."Christi Buker, executive director at Pennsylvania Library Association
“If there ever was a time to celebrate, please do it this week,” said Christi Buker, executive director at Pennsylvania Library Association.
“Libraries have faced threats of all sorts over the years, but because libraries serve their community, libraries have endured. But we need our community now to help the library.
“Because we don’t want to have to be in the place where we’re cutting resources and limiting hours open, and we don’t want to have to take away internet or computer access.”
Bethlehem Area Public Library Executive Director Josh Berk sees it as even more threatening.
"If the state library ceases to exist because the federal library goes away, that blows a huge hole in our budget," Berk said in a phone call last week.
"Local communities can fund their local libraries as much or as little as they want, but you can't ask every small town or community in the state to just pick up and fill these holes.
"And also, why should every small community have to reinvent the wheel? It's just foolish and harmful and purely political, and not at all serving the interest of the people, as I see it.
"Not to overreact, but it's just easy to imagine a time from now this being a domino resulting in the outcome of a diminished library system in the country, every community, including ours."
'Just not the reality'
Despite the looming threat of depleted — or defunded — programs, it was business as usual for local library directors and staff this week.
They continued with weekly event calendars and encouraged patrons to acknowledge their favorite branches loud and proud.
PaLA is the state’s oldest professional library organization, founded in 1901.
“So every bit that the community contributes and supports, everything that people can do to advocate for the positive impact the library has made on them, is important," Buker said.
"We think there are a lot of library lovers out there, so we need them to make sure they’re heard."
IMLS administers Grants to States, a federal block grant program that distributes library funding according to a state’s population. State Library Administrative Agencies decide what funds go where.
"Those Grants to States programs are so vital for Pennsylvania," Buker said.
Summer reading programs, Wi-fi and computer access for students and job-seekers who don't own one, and critical social time for elderly are just the surface of what libraries provide.
“Some people think libraries are just a place for books," Memorial Library of Nazareth and Vicinity Executive Director Holly Bennett said.
"That is just not the reality of a modern-day library.”
'Teach everyday lives'
Bennett rattled off just some of the ways today's library serves its public.
“Literacy, technology literacy, civic and social literacy, support groups and information on cancer support groups, teaching finances to teens and why they should have a credit card, things not often taught in the classroom," she said.
"The foundation has to be certainly a method of literacy, but also a means of providing services and programs that teach everyday lives."
Help filling out a job application is an in-demand library service many are not aware of, she said.
“Maybe you don’t have a computer, maybe you're not comfortable using the internet," Bennett said. "We have free hotspots you can borrow and a laptop to take home.
“We have free museum passes — during the summer, a family of four can go visit the National Constitution Center in Philly at no cost.
"Tax services. AARP is here for eight weeks to help people prepare their taxes. I think understanding how lives are touched by so many different things can impact understanding what’s happening on a federal level.”
Pennsylvania Public Library data for 2023 showed more than 25 million visitors to the state’s 637 public library outlets that include main libraries, branches and bookmobiles.
That’s three times the number of visits to PA’s National Park Service that year.
Other statewide statistics detailing what libraries provided in 2023 include:
- More than 2 million public internet computer sessions.
- More than 69 million print and electronic materials, movies, music, tools and more.
- 206,749 in-person programs for children, young adults, adults and intergenerational audiences, with a 3.7 million total attendance.
Investing in Pennsylvanians, future
The $5.9 million the state's libraries get in federal funds is matched by state and local investments, funding essential to support Pennsylvanians and the libraries that serve them.
The programs include:
- POWER Library, which facilitates Interlibrary Loan, providing digital access to a shared collection of online resources for patrons of all ages. Schools and public libraries count on that portal to provide subscription resources accessible from anywhere. Its annual value for each school is $56,515, and $73,366 for each public library.
- The PA One Book Program, which helps promote literacy in early childhood by providing thematic activities and books to early childhood programs and libraries to share with the youngest learners.
- The Collaborative Summer Reading Program, which provides materials to all of the state’s public libraries to support local programs, developed by staff.
- Teen Reading Lounge, which supports literacy-based programs that encourage critical thinking, civic involvement and discussion of ideas.
Besides the slew of literacy-building, the now-frozen federal funds also provide ongoing training to keep librarians current and capable of helping today's users of all ages and interests.
'A lot of confusion'
But the March 14 IMLS shutdown has left library workers everywhere confused, worried and unsure of what they’ll be able to provide their communities going forward, officials said.
"Libraries benefit the people in a community who need it the most," Bethlehem Library's Berk said.
"No computer at home, or access to a high-speed internet, or a safe place to be during the day. There's just such an unnecessary and hurtful attack on the people who need it the most."
"So as is possibly intended, there's a lot of confusion.
"The local libraries don't typically receive a ton of funding from the federally funded projects, programs, services, grants, all sorts of things. A lot of that is through the state library, which received a lot of its funding through IMLS."
That's funding that pays for the invaluable shared systems, catalogs, software and research databases.
It would be redundant, Berk said, for every local library to have to recreated those things on their own.
"In the interest of saving federal money, they're going to be wasting tons of money on the local level," he said. "It seems like it's going that way, and it's going to take away a lot of the support systems we rely on to function efficiently."
Helping libraries grow communities
The American Library Association is the only non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated entirely to America's libraries and library professionals, according to its website.
For almost 150 years, it has provided resources to help library workers to grow their communities.
"We're all unsure exactly how this is going to impact operations for libraries in the state," Berk said. "Our budgets are already stripped, and you're going to take away the few federally funded streams, and therefore, from the community.
"And a lot of the libraries in PA have really tight budgets to begin with."
"It's just harmful, hurtful and dumb."Josh Berk, BAPL executive director
Berk used terms such as "distressing" and "unclear" when describing BAPL librarian and worker feelings after learning of the IMLS cuts.
"I am just at a loss as to why they're doing this and what they hope to accomplish," Berk said of the DOGE move.
"I get it, but trying to make logical sense out of all these political moves is frustrating for someone who wants to make a local organization that helps people, run smoothly. It impacts all of us in a tangible way.
"It's just harmful, hurtful and dumb."
