MeL Funding at Risk

Many of you may have heard of the recent Executive Order signed by President Trump on March 14, 2025, that seeks to eliminate the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the nation’s only federal agency supporting America’s libraries. IMLS dollars routed to Michigan fund, among other programs, the Michigan Electronic Library (MeL), located at www.MeL.org, and the state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat.

If IMLS funding is eliminated, all local library users will have less access to books and other library materials.  In 2024, the MeLCat program saw Michigan libraries lend over one million books and other materials that are not locally available. Through MeL, students and other residents last year accessed over 19 million electronic articles, journals and other online resources to do homework, prep for tests, research medical & business decisions and explore family histories.

Since January 2023, HPL patrons have borrowed 1,500 books from libraries outside the Lakeland library Cooperative, all provided via MeLCat. Without this service, those books would not have been available.

You can read more about the impact of the elimination of IMLS in a press release from the Michigan Department of Education, published on March 20, 2025 and available here: https://www.michigan.gov/mde/news-and-information/press-releases/2025/03/20/michigan-library-users-will-be-harmed-by-order-to-abolish-federal-agency

Contact your U.S. Senators and Congressional Representatives if you want to voice your opinion.