DOGE Mandates Place $454 Million of IMLS Grants in Limbo

The building which houses the offices of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), is seen, Thursday March 20, 2025 in Washington (AP Photo/ Jacquelyn Martin)

The Department of Government Efficiency mandated the Institute of Museum and Library Services staff to be put on paid administrative leave on March 31, 2025, freezing $454 million in undistributed grant awards to organizations across the county. Data used to write this story was gathered from usaspending.gov

The IMLS awards grants to institutions outside of its namesake. Universities, research centers, government agencies and others recieve funding from the IMLS. Funded projects include mentorships for library and information science students at the University of Texas, preserving artifacts of indigenous people (Livingstong County Historical Society) and digitize the Country Music Hall of Fame’s 1950s TV film negatives. In some states, universities make up a quarter of all grant recipients.

Data downloaded from usaspending.gov illustrated the agency’s history of funding. The Department of Government Efficiency aims to cut cost, restructure government agencies and establish transparent government spending. In the past 10 years, 24% of IMLS grants did not fully award their obligations. Over $107 million was not properly distributed.

Organizations that reside in Illinois have $17.8 million in undistributed grant awards, $4 million to Texas organizations.

DOGE publishes each grant, contract and lease that have been terminated. This could be a source for a future data project Could find undistributed funds from those cancelled grants

The termination of IMLS grants have not been confirmed or published by DODGE, but the department’s mandate put the agency’s 17 employees on paid administrative leave until further notice. The average employee is 67 years old and has worked with the agency for an average 21 years, according to DOGE.

graphic published on Doge.gov

Among current open grants, $454 million in obligations have not been distributed. The agency’s largest grant funds about a third of the Texas State Library who then distributes funds to Texas libraries as well, according to Dr. Lorraine Haricombe, Vice Provost and Director of UT Libraries.

“[On April 3rd] we got an update to say the IMLS board is now being dissolved.” Haricombe said. “Now that the board has dissolved and the block grants to the states have stopped, it’s not clear that they will honor the obligations for existing current projects.”

Texas organizations currently have $23.9 million in limbo.