Prince Memorial Library serves the towns of Cumberland and North Yarmouth. Nick Ressel/File photo

During National Library Week, April 6-12, Falmouth Memorial Library has a different activity each day, with a photobooth for patrons and a library-wide scavenger hunt to celebrate the hub for learning. With between 100-200 visitors a day, staff also are gearing up for summer programming, the busiest season for the library.

“It’s an exciting time of year and exciting place to be,” said Falmouth Memorial Library Director Jenna Mayotte. “So that makes it especially difficult with the funding issues that are coming up.”

On March 14, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that government entities including the Institute of Museum and Library Services will be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” On March 31, the Trump administration placed all Institute of Museum and Library Service staff on administrative leave for 90 days, with their return uncertain.

Libraries across Maine and the country are considering how new funding cuts will impact their work and services.

While most Maine public libraries are primarily funded through local taxes or donations, federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services are distributed by Maine State Library, which provides statewide programs and divvies up the funds between local public libraries.

“I do not know if our congressionally approved funding will become unavailable due to this latest action,” Maine State Librarian Lori Fisher wrote in an email. “We continue to assess what impacts will occur if that funding cannot be accessed.”

Maine’s 257 libraries share $1.5 million in federal funds annually. Without these funds, librarians warn essential services, such as interlibrary book loans, Wi-Fi and e-books could be left unfunded.

While rural libraries that rely more heavily on federal funding may be hit hardest, libraries around the Greater Portland area have been forced to consider what programs and services they can sustain under reduced funds, and which will have to be cut.

Jenna Mayotte, the director of the Falmouth Memorial Library, in 2020. Chance Viles/File photo

“National Library Week gives us an opportunity to really reach a lot of people, to let them know how this kind of funding being removed could really damage the services that we’re able to provide,” said Mayotte.

Prince Memorial Library serves Cumberland and North Yarmouth. With 52,000 visitors annually, residents come not just to check out books, but also for community-building activities such as story times, youth clubs, mahjong, knitting groups, or just to use the free Wi-Fi.

“The services we offer are integral to a community’s health, a community’s educational opportunities, and cutting funding is not in the best interests of a community,” said Prince Memorial Library Director Stacy Mazur.

Free high-speed fiber-optic Wi-Fi in Maine libraries is funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. With this potential funding loss, local libraries are trying to figure out how they might pay for this service themselves. Many libraries that are fully funded by towns already have submitted their budgets for fiscal year 2026. Other libraries that are supported by donations face what they anticipate will be a competitive year for grant and donation fundraising, said Mayotte.

“We have so many people that come in to work in our library and study and everything else; we have to have Wi-Fi, so we would have to figure out a way to pay for that,” said Mayotte.

“We would either have to suddenly figure out how to come up with the funding, or people would really feel that hurt,” she said.

Other key service to be impacted is the interlibrary loan system. This service was disrupted last summer due to contract disputes, giving both librarians and readers a taste of the loss of this resource. The service is federally funded through a statewide system.

“Over the summer, when van delivery service was paused, a lot of people were pretty upset about that. They were worried about getting access to materials and getting access to books in a timely manner,” said Mazur.

Over the past weeks, librarians, policymakers and readers have been speaking up about the importance of funding libraries in Maine. On April 9, the Maine State Legislature and the Maine Library Association hosted a Library Legislative Day to highlight the importance of libraries in communities. They called for support for a bill to create a working group on the status of school and public libraries in Maine. Gov. Janet Mills wrote a letter in support of library services in Maine, recognizing April as Maine Libraries Month.

“Libraries are essential parts of communities throughout Maine,” she wrote, “that provide residents with unrestricted access to information … and foster literacy and lifelong learning.”

Continuing to provide access to information without barriers is also a priority for local librarians facing these new challenges.

“Libraries are here to make sure people have access information, and when you cut those things, it certainly reduces people’s ability to inform themselves and pursue both their interests, their curiosities,” said Mazur.

“Being a user of your local library is a great way to show that you support your local public library, and what it does and what it stands for,” she said.

Heidi Grimm is the director of Merrill Memorial Library, which serves Yarmouth and is a municipal department funded by local taxpayers. She said she has had library patrons ask if they should raise funds for Merrill Memorial Library following the cut to the Maine State Library. Grimm’s response: not yet.

“Right now, for most public libraries across the state, it’s business as usual until we get more information from the governor’s office,” said Grimm.

“The interference with IMLS funding doesn’t impact our day-to-day operations right now … Eventually, if this funding is not restored, libraries across the state will feel the pain in a couple of different ways,” she said.