The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
The State Library of Ohio got some good news as a federal agency from which they receive grant money won a battle in federal court against an executive order from President Donald Trump.
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island blocked Trump’s order that would have dismantled the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The institute is the sole source of federal funding for libraries, according to Ohio’s State Librarian Mandy Knapp.
The State Library of Ohio receives funds through the institute’s Library Services and Technology Act for training, administration of grant programs, and to support sharing resources through a consortium for “significant cost-savings for taxpayers.”
“In our state, we use these funds to enhance summer reading so that our children don’t lag behind academically, to conserve our culture heritage to make sure that future generations will be able to share in our collective past, as well as to implement the latest research such as the Science of Reading in our libraries,” Knapp said in a statement.
The state librarian previously told the Capital Journal the loss of the federal funding would “totally and utterly devastate” the agency.
The most recent grants distributed by the state library from the $5.4 million received from the institute went to programs including monthly story times for the deaf, technology for use with historical records, and digital materials for the home-bound.
In addition, the Toledo Lucas County Public Library received a grant to support the Science of Reading, and 18 rural libraries received money for public technology training.
The struck-down executive order was issued March 14, ordering the elimination of the agency all together.
After the order, the Trump administration removed the board of the institute, terminated grants from the agency and planned mass layoffs.
The American Library Association said the actions left the institute “unable to fulfill its duties required by federal law and interrupted library services across the country.”
“Convincing a federal judge that shuttering a supposedly obscure agency would have an immediate and devastating impact on millions of Americans is no small feat,” said Sam Helmick, president of the American Library Association, after the order was struck down.
“Libraries also strengthen local economies by supporting jobseekers, small businesses and community learning.”
While the State Library of Ohio sees the court win as a positive sign, they are still struggling due to cuts the state made in its most recent operating budget.
While previous state budgets have had separate line items for the State Library of Ohio, in the most recent state operating budget, the method of distributing state funds for the agency is through a transfer from the Public Library Fund, a fund that previously was earmarked for local public libraries outside of the state agency.
The Public Library Fund is tasked with providing funds for the State Library of Ohio, the Library for the Blind, the Ohio Public Library Information Network, the Regional Library Systems Fund, and the Ohioana Library Association, according to budget documents.
The state funds the Public Library Fund using shares of the monthly General Revenue Fund tax receipts, to the tune of 1.75% of the revenue.
In the next two fiscal years, the state library is set to receive $4.5 million in each year.
State Librarian Knapp said when the changes were announced in budget drafts that the number amounts to a cut of $245,000 in 2026 and $331,000 in 2027 compared to previous drafts of the budget.
The cuts also came as Knapp laid out the situation at the state library, where staff and health insurance costs rose, and the library facility was “no longer suitable to house the State Library’s collection.”
The library holds historical documents like the state’s founding documents as part of their conservation role with the state.
A spokesperson from the state library said the entity has “evaluated the services (it) provides and determined where we should focus our resources.”
As a result, the library has had to cut some services like information technology support in meeting rooms, and left an Information Services & Technology Department position open after it was recently vacated.
The library plans to monitor the federal case in case it’s appealed to a higher court, and the upcoming federal budget resolution, which is set to expire on Jan. 30, 2026.
