Newscenter Maine - The Maine State Library has resumed some of the services Tuesday that were unavailable for more than a month while the agency worked to restructure its operations due to federal funding cuts.
On April 9, the state library issued a news release announcing a temporary closure after the loss of federal funding forced them to need to restructure operations.
The library also said at the time that it issued layoff notices for 13 of its employees, as a direct result of the funding loss.
According to the news release, those positions were funded through a program grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provided more than $1.5 million to the state service in fiscal year 2024 and amounts to roughly 30 percent of the library's annual budget.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order March 14 to dismantle the IMLS before firing nearly all of its employees. The order was swiftly challenged in court, but the disruption in funding and uncertainty about the future of the program resulted in the immediate need to adapt or restructure for many libraries and other programs across the U.S.
“It came as quite a surprise to all of us,” Spencer Davis, a library generalist at the Maine State Library, told the Associated Press.
Davis was among several employees who were laid off because of the suspended funding.