Federal cuts could limit Alaska library services and hours at Juneau branches

Libraries in Alaska may no longer be able to request books from out of state, or mail books and other media to Alaskans who don’t live near a library. 

Trump administration cuts to federal funding for libraries means Interlibrary Loan services and the Alaska Library Extension program won’t be funded after June.

Juneau Public Libraries Director Catherine Melville said these programs mean people who live in small communities without libraries can still access library books.

“Alaska Library Extension fulfills the State of Alaska’s mission to make sure that everybody, no matter where you live in Alaska, you receive some form of library service,” she said. 

In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that heavily reduced the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the federal agency that funds museum and library programs across the country.

Since then, IMLS staff have been placed on leave. A federal judge has granted an injunction to pause Trump’s dismantling of IMLS, but Melville says there’s still uncertainty that Juneau’s libraries will receive the funding they were awarded. 

Two Juneau library staff positions that facilitate these programs would be cut in the absence of other funding, and losing those positions would mean a reduction in library hours. 

“We have no communication saying the money is coming, or even communication saying the money is not coming,” Melville said. “And because this program employs staff and operates year round, it’s not it’s not something that we can just pause or wait. I have to either be paying my staff or not.”

The library is asking the City and Borough of Juneau for $130,000 to compensate for the funding losses, and to continue the programs. The federal cuts don’t prevent Alaska libraries from sending books to other libraries in the state, but Melville said she suspects cuts to IMLS will have broader impacts in Alaska in the long term.