Last Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of seven federal agencies. Chief among them was the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides critical funding to museums, libraries, and archives. Now, less than a week later, Trump appointed a new head of the agency, Keith E. Sonderling.
Earlier this week, Sonderling was confirmed as deputy secretary of the Department of Labor, after previously serving at that agency during Trump’s first term in office and, later, under Biden, at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Prior to 2017, Sonderling was a partner at Florida law firm Gunster.
Now, Sonderling will apparently be pulling double-duty at IMLS, after he was sworn in as acting director Thursday, according to the agency.
“It is an honor to be appointed by President Trump to lead this important organization in its mission to advance, support and empower America’s museums and libraries, which stand as cornerstones of learning and culture in our society,” Sonderling said in a statement. “I am committed to steering this organization in lockstep with this administration to enhance efficiency and foster innovation. We will revitalize IMLS and restore focus on patriotism, ensuring we preserve our country’s core values, promote American exceptionalism and cultivate love of country in future generations.”
As part of Trump’s executive order last week, leaders of IMLS and the other targeted agencies were told to eliminate all non-mandatory functions and scale back required ones to the legal minimum.
The agency’s budget for Fiscal Year 2024 was $294.8 million, with around $55.45 million allocated to museums, roughly divided amongst programs like Museums for America, Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services, national leadership grants for museums, and allocations for African American history and culture museums and the National Museum of the American Latino. The budget request for this year is about 5 percent smaller.
It appears, for the moment, that IMLS will not be completely eliminated, though in what form it will remain and what budget it will have is unclear.
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