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On March 14, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order that called for the dismantling of seven federal agencies to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law. They ranged from the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America, to the Minority Business Development Agency. The Institute of Museum and Library Services was also on the list. Congress created the IMLS in 1996 through the Museum and Library Services Act. The law merged the Institute of Museum Services, which was established in 1976, with the Library Programs Office of the Department of Education. By combining these two departments, Congress sought to create an overarching agency that could more cohesively and strategically support American museums and libraries. The agencys mission, programs, and funding have been reaffirmed through subsequent legislation, such as the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003. The Conversation U.S. interviewed Devon Akmon, who is the director of the MSU Museum at Michigan State University. He explained how the agency supports the nations cultural institutions and local communities, and what could be lost if the agency were dissolved. What does the Institute of Museum and Library Services do? The agency provides financial support to a wide array of cultural and educational institutions, including art, science and history museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and historic sites. Libraries of all types public, academic, school and research also benefit from the agencys funding. Through grants, research and policy initiatives, the IMLS helps these institutions better serve their communities. Anne-Imelda Radice, right, former director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, inspects Denver city records and neighborhood histories in 2008. The volumes were digitized to make them more accessible to the public. [Photo: Brian Brainerd/The Denver Post/Getty Images] In the 2019 fiscal year, for example, the IMLS awarded funds to libraries in Nebraska to support economic development in 30 rural communities. The project created rotating innovation studios in local libraries and provided residents with tools, instructional materials and programming to foster entrepreneurship and creativity. More recently, IMLS awarded a grant to the Hands On Childrens Museum to develop a toolkit that museums across the country can use to support families with relatives who are in prison. For libraries, the IMLS might fund technology upgrades, such as virtual reality learning stations, AI-assisted research aids or digitization of rare books. The agency also pays for community programs that take place in libraries, from early childhood reading initiatives to workshops that help people land jobs. How has the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported your work at the MSU Museum? IMLS grants have played a vital role in enabling the MSU Museum to preserve, enhance and expand access to its collections. For example, weve used IMLS grants to develop high-quality audio aids for museum visitors who are blind or have poor vision. Recent funding has supported the digitization of over 2,000 vertebrate specimens, including rare and endangered species. Beyond financial support, the MSU Museum benefits from IMLS policy papers, professional training opportunities and resources developed through the National Leadership Grants for Museums program. Our staff members also contribute to national campaigns spearheaded by the IMLS, such as its Strategies for Countering Antisemitism & Hate initiative. Through these efforts, the IMLS, alongside the American Alliance of Museums, operate as cornerstones of learning and innovation within the museum field. Looking beyond Michigan State, what might be lost with its shuttering? The IMLS is more than a grantmaking entity it is the only federal agency dedicated to sustaining the entire museum and library ecosystem in the United States. Its funding has sustained museums, advanced digital preservation, expanded accessibility for low-income communities and fueled innovation in educational programming. In 2024 alone, the agency distributed $266.7 million through grants, research initiatives and policy development. For example, ExplorationWorks, a childrens museum in Helena, Montana, received $151,946 in 2024 from the IMLS to expand its early childhood programs that serve low-income and rural families. Without this support, many institutions will struggle to hire and retain qualified staff, leading to fewer exhibitions, stalled research and reduced educational outreach. The consequences would be particularly severe for small museums and rural museums, which lack the fundraising capacity of larger urban institutions. Theyre often the only sources of cultural and historical education in their regions, and their loss would create cultural voids that cannot easily be filled. Trumps executive order dictated that the Institute of Museum and Library Services and other agencies be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law. What is the applicable law in this case? Im not a lawyer. But my understanding is that the applicable law in this case primarily refers to the Museum and Library Services Act, which, as I noted earlier, was created in 1996 and has been reauthorized multiple times since then. Since the IMLS was created through this congressional legislation, it cannot simply be eliminated by an executive order. Congress would need to pass a law to repeal or defund it. Additionally, the Antideficiency Act prohibits federal agencies from operating without appropriated funding. If Congress were to defund the IMLS rather than repeal its authorizing statute, the agency would be force to cease operations due to a lack of money, even if the legal framework for its existence remained intact. Is there anything else youd like to add? Museums are among the most trusted institutions in the country. They are rare bipartisan beacons of credibility in an era of deep division. A 2021 American Alliance of Museums report found that 97% of Americans view museums as valuable educational assets, while 89% consider them trustworthy sources of information. A 2022 American Library Association survey revealed that 89% of voters and 92% of parents believe local public libraries have an important role to play in communities. More than just cultural repositories, museums and libraries bring together citizens and offer learning opportunities for everyday people. By presenting science and history through engaging, evidence-based storytelling, museums help bridge ideological divides and encourage informed discourse. People of all political stripes rely on libraries for free internet access, job searches and literacy programs. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is central to this work. The agency provides leadership, while funding programs and research that help museums and libraries expand their offerings to reach all Americans. Stripping this support would threaten the sustainability of these institutions and weaken their ability to serve as pillars of education, civic engagement, and truth. I see it as a disinvestment in an informed, connected, and resilient society. Devon Akmon is the director of the MSU Museum and CoLab Studio at Michigan State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Would you share the pages of your journal with a bunch of strangers, because thats the idea behind social wellness app Exist. The new iOS social wellness app wants to turn journaling into a social experience. Originally designed with Gen Z in mind, Exist unexpectedly found its audience among middle-age users, with the average sign-up age landing at 40. Seeing this, the founders pivoted to focus on this group, creating a space for real, raw conversations about lifes challenges. Exist calls itself the edgier cousin of Calm and Headspace, but instead of solo meditation, it puts social journaling at the center of its mission. The app is built on the idea that healing happens best together, not alone. Users can track their moods daily, explore guided meditations, and engage in audio exercises, but the real draw is its community. In terms of its interface, Exist functions like a TikTok for mental health, offering a swipeable feed of videos and text-based public journal entries. Users can respond to daily prompts, share their thoughts, and interact through comments, creating a space for support and real conversations. The biggest feature that makes us different is the community side, cofounder Alicia Waldner told TechCrunch. Headspace and Calm proved that theres this audio-based market, but people still feel very alone in those experiences and in real life, people meditate and then they journal, but thats a solo experience. And what we did was make that a social experience. So instead of journaling all your thoughts and feelings at home and putting it underneath your bed at night, youre sharing it with the world, and people are commenting back. Exist also offers an AI-powered question feature designed to push users to dig deeper into their thoughts and feelings. This tool encourages a more reflective and thorough journaling experience. While the community and social journaling features are free, users looking for guided audios and meditations can unlock them with a $5.99/month subscription.
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E-Commerce
Cultivating a loyal fan base is every brand’s dream. So why not take a page out of the book of companies that have made fandom the foundation of their business? Earlier this month at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW, executives from Weverse, Crunchyroll, and Wattpad/Webtoon spoke about how their companies cultivate and serve their diehard fandomsand how you can apply that approach to your customers. For Joon Choi, president of Weverse, a platform bridging fans to artists, fandom always starts with authenticity, particularly with the artists on the platform. He recognized that “special” and “happy” experience of being in a fandom. So if an artist isn’t authentically connected to their fanbase, then a platform like Weverse just isn’t for them. And that idea, he said, goes for companies trying to connect with their consumers. Aron Levitz, president of Wattpad Webtoon Studios and co-president of Wattpad, noted that part of defining yourself as a brand is figuring out who you are in different channels.“Have you ever looked at Build-a-Bear’s Instagram? It is not what you think it is. Go read it. It is unhinged,” he said. “But they decided that in that channel they can talk about themselves in a different way than they ever would in a store.”The key is to be true to a persona and be ready to experiment to get to that persona, especially on social media where there’s a constant churn of content. “You can think like a tech company and do some A/B testing to really understand what could your brand be,” Levitz said. For Gita Rebbapragada, chief operating officer of anime streaming service Crunchyroll, it’s about identifying the nuances within your fanbase. “When [you] think about a specific fandom as a monolith, you will fail,” she said. “The beauty of being focused around one specific fandom is the diversity in it.”She also mentioned that fans are highly adept at sniffing out inauthentic ploys for monetization from a company. But that there are indeed opportunities to engage with fans in a financial way if it’s “well-aligned” with the community. “A lot of times we think of monetizing a fan base as kind of an uncomfortable thing to talk about,” Rebbapragada said. “[But] if you love a story or a game, you want to engage with it in so many different ways. And a company or a brand that gives you a cool product that you want to have in your home or put on your shelf or wear, that is creating value for the person that loves that particular thing. It’s really about understanding what the motivations are.” Watch the full panel below:
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E-Commerce
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