“I don’t remember Trump campaigning on the promise to cut local library funding, but there were warnings,” says Ali Velshi on this episode of the Banned Book Club.

As part of an Executive Order signed in mid-March, the Trump administration ordered several governmental entities be stripped down, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The IMLS is an independent federal agency with around 70 employees and provides funding for public libraries in every state and territory.

Publishers and authors are joining libraries in the fight for our nation’s libraries. Jon Yaged, CEO of Macmillan Publishers, comes to the Velshi Banned Book Club to discuss the effects of book banning, the slashing of federal funding, and the vital role of IMLS.

“It becomes existential,” Yaged explains of the fight against censorship and to preserve federal support for our library system, “The battlefront is everywhere there’s a school, everywhere there’s a library, every community.”

School and public libraries, like the Free Library of Philadelphia, have defined our nation. IMLS funding costs less than 80 cents per person, so the fight is clearly not about saving money. As Yaged puts it, “If we can’t afford 80 cents per person for libraries, I don’t know what we can do, you know?”

Listen to Velshi talk about the importance of library funding

Watch Velshi and Yaged discuss the threat to the IMLS

Velshi on banned books on MSNBC:

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