Shelter Island Reporter editorial: Fight for your library

With so much attention focused on the noisier disruptions happening at the federal level — from tariff turmoil to teetering T-bills — it’s easy to overlook some of the quieter policy changes that are having an impact on the services so many rely on in our own backyard, including at our local libraries.

An executive order signed March 14 by President Donald Trump called for the reduction of the Institute of Museum and Library Services — an independent government agency created in 1996, which is the primary source of support for the nation’s museums and libraries. The president’s order deemed the institute an “unnecessary” element of the federal government.

Area library directors are growing concerned. Shelter Island Library Director Terry Lucas urged Islanders to contact their State and Federal representatives. “Let them know that the library is an essential and important part of this community,” she said.

Across Long Island, roughly $30 million from a federal E-rate program helps ensure access to stable, high-speed internet at schools and libraries. Beyond the obvious benefits to education, economic development and personal enrichment, there’s also a clear public safety risk if stable communications are jeopardized. “Schools and libraries are made of cement and steel … where cellular service doesn’t work as well,” said Suffolk Cooperative Library System director Kevin Verbesey. “Without these internet connections, it’s hard to contact the outside world.”

Beyond providing the traditional services libraries have always offered, today’s librarians are often acting as tech experts, art curators, cultural ambassadors, seed distributors — even passport agents. Libraries have for many years been far more than simply places to borrow books and magazines. Shelter Island needed enlarged space to provide appropriate room for its many activities, clubs, age groups and interests.

“In general, government thrives on stability,” Mr. Verbesey said. “And when somebody commits to giving you funding, and you put it into your budget for the next year — the expectation is it will come to you so you can undertake your plans. When all of a sudden … somebody changes their decisions on things that have already been set in stone — or at least set in the law — it just makes it very difficult to function.”

“If you love your library,” Cutchogue-New Suffolk Free Library Director Rosemary Winters told our sister paper, The Suffolk Times, “advocate for what you love.”

Ms. Lucas agrees. “If you’re interested in becoming a library advocate, please go to our website — silibrary.org — and click on the link.”