Advocates for U.S. libraries breathed a sigh of relief last September when congressional appropriations committees approved federal library funding for fiscal year 2026. Now, the next round of budget requests are beginning afresh.
As the House Appropriations Committee begins collecting letters in support of library funding, with FY2027 set to start on October 1, the American Library Association says now is the time to ask representatives to signal their support.
Representatives’ signed letters to endorse full and potentially increased funding for the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) program are due to the House Appropriations Committee on March 27. Senate Appropriations Committee letters are not yet circulating, but that process is expected to begin soon.
LSTA funds for all kinds of libraries are administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through its statutory Grants to States and discretionary grant programs. In FY2026, LSTA is authorized to spend $212.5 million, and ALA wants to see that amount increased to $232 million in FY2027 so that libraries can provide resources including digital access and summer reading programs.
IAL funds, which support school libraries, are managed by the Department of Education. IAL presently has a $30 million budget, and ALA argues that $50 million would better enable high-need schools to provide books and other educational essentials.
The start of the appropriations process, announced by House Appropriations chair Tom Cole of Oklahoma, happened to coincide with National Library Legislative Day activities in Washington, D.C., which brought more than 200 library supporters to Capitol Hill on February 25–26.
“When we scheduled our National Library Legislative Day, we never could have imagined that it would line up so perfectly with the budget process,” said Lisa Varga, ALA’s associate executive director of public policy and advocacy. The timing of the fly-in allowed Varga and her team to lobby members of the House on both sides of the aisle.
Kevin Maher, the ALA’s deputy director of public policy and advocacy, said that libraries’ presence on Capitol Hill ensured that “we were one of the first groups meeting with members of Congress” as budget processes began. Maher noted that representatives James McGovern of Massachusetts and Don Bacon of Nebraska are co-leading the appropriations letters for LSTA and IAL, and together allowed for an extended March deadline to collect signatures.
“Bipartisanship helps on both” LSTA and IAL, Maher said, cheering “the fact that Congressman Bacon, a Republican, was willing to co-lead the letter with Congressman McGovern. Most of the signatures are from Democrats, but we do get a handful of Republicans, and during the fly-in, we had a lot of meetings with Republicans.” He observed that lawmakers can recognize “the return on investment” libraries offer.
Varga also feels there is reason for optimism. “We were really encouraged when we saw in the fiscal year 2026 budget that there was an increase to federal funding for IMLS, given everything that had happened in the 10 months since the executive order,” she said. “It was very encouraging to see bipartisan support for federal funding for libraries. As the signatures come in, we are seeing that support is still there.”
