[Answerland] Potential Impacts on Answerland funding

[STARKSMITH Gesse * SLO]

Hi All,

My apologies-this was meant specifically for Answerland volunteers who may not be in the Oregon Libraries loop! Sorry for the duplicate information.

Thanks!

Gesse Stark-Smith, MIS (she/her)
Virtual Reference Coordinator
State Library of Oregon
gesse.stark-smith at slo.oregon.gov<mailto:gesse.stark-smith at slo.oregon.gov> | 971-600-4992
www.oregon.gov/library/libraries<https://www.oregon.gov/library/libraries>
Work Schedule: Mon 8-2, Weds & Thurs 8:30-4

[Logo for the Library Support & Development Services division at the State Library of Oregon]<http://www.oregon.gov/library/libraries>

From: Answerland <answerland-bounces at omls.oregon.gov> On Behalf Of STARKSMITH Gesse * SLO via Answerland
Sent: Thursday, April 3, 2025 3:55 PM
To: answerland at omls.oregon.gov
Subject: [Answerland] Potential Impacts on Answerland funding

Hi All,

I wanted to make sure that you are aware of some recent events that may impact the funding for Answerland, which comes from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Library Services Technology Act (LSTA). This funding pays for the software, the 24x7 cooperative support and my salary. (And many other great services and resources provided by the State Library!) You may have heard about this in the news or through your library communities, but I thought I would share it just in case.

Here is what we know right now:

  *   On Friday, March 14th the President issued an Executive Order for "Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy<https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/continuing-the-reduction-of-the-federal-bureaucracy/>" that includes the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
  *   On Monday, March 31st we learned that all IMLS staff had been placed on administrative leave. (Although, some of them may have been recalled to work later in the week.)
  *   As of today (April 3rd), we have not received a letter terminating our grant from IMLS and we still have access to request funds. However, we do not know who at IMLS may be able to fill our request and if that will happen. (Generally, funds are distributed for roughly 30 days worth of expenses at a time.)
  *   LSTA is a statutorily required program of IMLS, which means that there are legal statutes requiring that this money be distributed to the states.

Please let me know if you have questions. I may not have the answers, but I'm happy to talk through them with you and share anything I do know.

Thank you for your support of Answerland! Your work means a lot! PSU Library recently share how much Answerland has helped their students<https://library.pdx.edu/news/answerland/> and I know many other libraries feel the same way.

All the best,
Gesse Stark-Smith, MIS (she/her)
Virtual Reference Coordinator
State Library of Oregon
gesse.stark-smith at slo.oregon.gov<mailto:gesse.stark-smith at slo.oregon.gov> | 971-600-4992
www.oregon.gov/library/libraries<https://www.oregon.gov/library/libraries>
Work Schedule: Mon 8-2, Weds & Thurs 8:30-4

[Logo for the Library Support & Development Services division at the State Library of Oregon]<http://www.oregon.gov/library/libraries>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/answerland/attachments/20250403/abbb6d38/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 19516 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/answerland/attachments/20250403/abbb6d38/attachment.png>