National Digital Stewardship Residents Oppose Defunding the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)

We the undersigned, who serve or have served as National Digital Stewardship Residents, condemn in the strongest possible terms the White House’s proposed defunding of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in its FY2019 budget request (pg 97). IMLS has supported every iteration of the National Digital Stewardship Residency program (NDSR), which has created a dedicated community of professionals who advance our nation's capabilities in managing, preserving, and making accessible the digital record of human achievement. Defunding IMLS will not only hurt our community and its public service mission, but those of the 30,000+ museums and 100,000+ libraries that serve and enrich the entire nation.

IMLS supports a nation of learners. It is the only public organization with the national scope, network, and professional staff necessary to achieve its core mission to advance innovation, learning, and civic engagement in cultural heritage and memory institutions through research, policy development, and grant-making. In the context of the NDSR program, IMLS has fostered innovative new public servants and enabled services to facilitate broad access to essential scientific research data, inspiring works of art, benchmark digital artifacts of American culture, and educational public media across the country. This work benefits all Americans. The permanent damage that defunding will do to a nation of learners of all ages, backgrounds, and resources cannot be overstated. To see how IMLS grants impact your community, search for your city/town here: https://www.imls.gov/grants/awarded-grants.

IMLS programs such as NDSR have inspired a new generation of information professionals dedicated to preserving the digital record, and we will continue to do our part. As stewards of the nation’s digital heritage, resources, and infrastructure, we demand unequivocally that Congress reject this budget. We urge you to join us by contacting your representatives. Let them know that you love libraries, museums, learning, and personal and national enrichment; IMLS must remain a funding priority.

Signed,
Erin Lee Barsan
Karl-Rainer Blumenthal
Meredith Broadway
John Caldwell
Joe Carrano
Selena Chau
Valerie Collins
Eddy Colloton
Nicole Contaxis
Alexandra Curran
Carmel Curtis
Elizabeth England
Jeffrey Erickson
Alicia Esquivel
Rebecca Fraimow
Amy Gay
Peggy Griesinger
Dinah Handel
Heidi Dowding Kelly
Mary Kidd
Genevieve Havemeyer-King
Marissa Kings
Jen LaBarbera
Adam Lott
Pamela McClanahan
Morgan McKeehan
Kate McManus
Katie Mika
Lee Nilsson
Margo Padilla
Tricia Patterson
Cate Peebles
Shira Peltzman
Megan Potterbusch
Alice Prael
Lorena Ramírez-López
Stefanie Ramsay
Ariadne Rehbein
Molly Schwartz
Vicky Steeves
Elise Tanner
Erica Titkemeyer