EBooks and audiobooks make up more than 20% of the Concord Public Library’s annual circulation — roughly 6,000 titles are checked out in those formats every month.

Local library officials, in Concord and beyond, are raising alarm after an executive order from President Donald Trump called for the elimination of a federal agency that helps fund access to this content and supports libraries across New Hampshire.

Cuts would “dramatically affect the above-mentioned services that we currently provide to our patrons, crippling the collaboration between New Hampshire libraries, and drastically reducing access to materials library patrons would not otherwise have access to,” according to a letter the Concord library sent to patrons said.

The March 14 order calls for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, among other agencies, beyond its “minimum presence and function required by law.” According to the agency’s website, it directed more than $1.5 million in funding to the New Hampshire State Library in 2024.

It’s not yet clear to local library officials, however, whether this funding would be cut off by the order. Interview requests to Interim State Librarian Mindy Atwood were declined.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which includes the state library, provided a statement that said only that the executive order’s impact was being “closely monitored.”

Meanwhile, state lawmakers in a House finance committee proposed that New Hampshire eliminate the state library entirely on Monday.

In the 2023 fiscal year, around $650,000 in institute funding went towards interlibrary loans, about $100,000 towards downloadable books, and about $190,000 for NH Talking Books, according to an agency grant database.

For now, Concord and other libraries still have access to these programs through the state library.

“We certainly don’t know the time frame for any of this,” Concord Library Director Todd Fabian said. “But these things are tangible, front line things… that eventually would become direct losses for library service.”

The state library uses federal money to provide Libby, the main program that libraries across the state use for eBook and audiobook content. Local libraries pay a portion for the content they want, but access to the platform itself is through the state library’s umbrella.

Federal dollars also pay for the entirety of state interlibrary loans, where residents can borrow books from another town’s local collection through a sharing system. The Concord library loaned and borrowed a total of nearly 4,500 items in 2024.

Institute of Museum and Library Services is the largest source of federal library funding for libraries. That money can be more than half of each state library’s annual budget, according to a press release from the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies.

Local libraries across the state — including those in Warner, Meredith, Newbury, Henniker, Moultonborough and beyond — put out statements echoing Concord’s concerns. The New Hampshire Library Association did the same.

The executive order comes amid major cuts to federal spending and workforce that the President, this order states, “has determined are unnecessary.”

The agency was founded in 1996 and is a major funding source not only for libraries but for museums and some educational institutions as well. Its budget is around $290 million, more than half of which goes directly to state libraries.

Trump named a new director last week, Keith Sonderling, who said in a statement after he was appointed that he is “committed to steering this organization in lockstep with this Administration to enhance efficiency and foster innovation.”

A letter from the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ board to Sonderling on Monday states that funding down to state, and therefore local, libraries is part of statutorily required programs, meaning it would require an act of Congress to end.

The American Library Association described Trump’s move to close the agency as a “short-sighted decision” that would only reduce .003% of the federal budget but would be a loss to the millions of people who make up the nation’s 1.2 billion annual library visits.

“We feel like libraries are extremely efficient,” Concord’s Fabian said. “A lot of people rely on them for access to vital information. We’re here for everyone.”

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com.