Charlie Barlow reflects on the abrupt loss of IMLS support and reaffirms BLC’s enduring commitment to empowering libraries to share knowledge, infrastructure, and resources at scale.
Earlier this month, the Boston Library Consortium (BLC) received formal notices that two of our federal grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) had been terminated, effective immediately.
The grants underpinned two initiatives central to BLC’s mission. The first was the launch of BLASS, the BLC Leadership Academy for Support Staff. Designed to empower underrepresented library workers historically excluded from leadership pathways in the library and information field, BLASS sought to address a persistent gap in the profession. We had just completed a competitive national selection process, drawing nearly one hundred applicants for the inaugural cohort. Guided by a nationwide needs assessment, our advisory committee and instructors developed a compelling curriculum for the first academy, scheduled to launch this summer.
The second grant accelerated BLC’s work in Controlled Digital Lending (CDL). Through Project ReShare, and in collaboration with libraries across the country and around the world, we developed ReShare CDL—an open, community-driven solution for lending digitized library materials. In parallel, our E-Book Sharing Working Group published E-Book ILL Roadmaps: Charting Pathways for Broader Adoption of E-Book Interlibrary Loan in June 2024, a report that has since been honored with the 2025 RUSA STARS Publication Recognition Award.
Together, these projects reflected a national commitment to leadership, innovation, and the shared infrastructure libraries need to serve their communities. Their termination disrupts not only our immediate programs but a larger vision of collaboration and access—one that BLC has been championing since our libraries first came together in 1959.
BLC is not alone. Libraries, museums, and cultural institutions across the country are confronting the same abrupt and destabilizing losses. The dismantling of IMLS—an agency representing just 0.0046% of the federal budget—threatens far more than individual programs. It strikes at the national infrastructure that sustains learning, discovery, and access to knowledge at every level of society. For thousands of institutions, IMLS has been a lifeline—strengthening civic and cultural life, broadening educational opportunity, and deepening the reach of libraries and museums in communities across the nation. Its return on investment has been extraordinary. Its sudden withdrawal is devastating.
At BLC, we will not allow this moment to define the future. Our mission—to empower libraries to share knowledge, infrastructure, and resources at scale—remains unwavering. While we must pause certain activities associated with these grants, we remain committed to carrying this work forward. We will appeal the terminations and pursue every available path to restore the programs our members, partners, and communities need.
Times of uncertainty test the foundations we have built. At BLC, we will stand firm—in our mission, in our partnerships, and in our belief that libraries can and must shape a more equitable future.
Charlie Barlow
Executive Director, Boston Library Consortium