A small federal agency that funds libraries and museums is telling employees to hand in their government-issued equipment and putting them on leave — a sign that major cuts to its operations are coming.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) put all of its approximately 75-employee workforce on paid administrative leave Monday, according to several IMLS employees.

The American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403 said in a statement that IMLS notified all employees that they would be placed on paid administrative leave, effective “immediately,” following a brief meeting between staff from the Department of Government Efficiency and IMLS leadership.

“Employees were required to turn in all government property before exiting the building, and email accounts are being disabled today. Museums and libraries will no longer be able to contact IMLS staff for updates about the funding they rely upon,” the union wrote.

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AFGE Local 3403 said all work processing 2025 grant applications has ended, “in the absence of staff.”

“The status of previously awarded grants is unclear. Without staff to administer the programs, it is likely that most grants will be terminated,” the union wrote.

IMLS employees expect the agency will soon cut more than half its workforce, and will be reduced to only core statutory functions, under a recent executive order.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14 eliminating IMLS “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”

The executive order also targets six other small agencies and programs — the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, U.S. Agency for Global Media, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund and the Minority Business Development Agency.

“Such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law,” the executive order states.

The Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service last week terminated most of its employees and services, according to four employees who spoke to Federal News Network.

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The agency saves about $500 million a year by resolving and preventing strikes and labor disputes in the private sector and across the federal workforce.

FMCS will go from a workforce of about 220 employees to a “skeleton crew” of approximately a dozen employees.

An IMLS employee recently told Federal News Network that the agency may be cut down to 30 people and that some remaining staff may be moving to the Labor Department.

Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling was sworn in as the acting IMLS director on March 20, after Trump designated him to serve in the role. An IMLS employee said Sonderling briefly returned to IMLS last Friday

According to employees, IMLS staffers were told in a March 17 town hall that the agency would soon look very different under Trump’s executive order, and “could be down to the studs,” in terms of overall staffing.

IMLS employees had until March 19 to apply for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) or Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP).

Many agencies across the federal government are making the same offer to employees, before proceeding with layoffs through a nonvoluntary Reduction in Force.

IMLS is the primary source of federal support for U.S. libraries and museums. The agency supports them through grants, research and policy development. The agency has about 75 employees. As of fiscal 2024, it had an annual budget of nearly $295 million.

Among its services, IMLS issues library grants to each state and territory, based on population.

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Those grants go toward a variety of state and local services — including workforce development, digital literacy, after-school programs for children, and field trips for students to visit museums and historical sites.

An IMLS employee said the agency is also a major source of funding for internet connectivity programs in rural areas.

An employee of a state library agency previously told Federal News Network that cuts to IMLS would have a ripple effect on her state’s library spending.

Congress passed the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA) in 2018, reauthorizing IMLS. Trump signed the bill into law during his first term in office.

Sens. Jack Reed (D-N.H.) Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), co-authors of the reauthorization bill, wrote a letter to Sonderling last week, “to remind the Administration of its obligation to faithfully execute the provisions of the law as authorized.”

“We also expect that the Administration will allow the IMLS to engage with and support both libraries and museums as Congress intended and as authorized in the MLSA,” the lawmakers wrote.

If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes happening in the federal government, please email JHeckman@FederalNewsNetwork.com or reach out on Signal at: JHeckman. 29

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