Trump orders ‘elimination’ of US agency funding museums and libraries

US President Donald Trump has signed orders for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to be “eliminated”.

The Art Newspaper reports that IMLS is one of seven federal agencies, including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, to be targeted by an executive order signed on Friday (14 March) describing them as “unnecessary”.

The order says each will “be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law”. The order also requires the heads of each of the agencies to submit a report outlining which of their activities “are statutorily required and to what extent”.

Alongside the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), IMLS is one of the largest distributors of federal funding in the US, providing $266.7m in grants to libraries, museums and related institutions last year.

The American Library Association issued a statement, saying the order is “cutting off at the knees the most beloved and trusted of American institutions and the staff and services they offer”.