Local library directors say federal or state cuts to library services could impact programs they rely on, including electronic lending, interlibrary loans, and services for visually-impaired readers.

State lawmakers backed down from a plan to defund the New Hampshire State Library in favor of a more-targeted approach, but one that could still leave certain services on the chopping block. At the federal level, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which awards grants to libraries and museums, has placed its entire staff on administrative leave.

“I was dismayed to hear that IMLS funding to the state of New Hampshire may be impacted by changes coming out of Washington,” said Donna Straitiff, director of Ingalls Memorial Library in Rindge. “Our small town library operates on a tight budget, and we rely pretty heavily on outside sources of materials.”

One of those programs is Libby, an electronic lending app that allows patrons to check out e-books, audiobooks and magazines from the state library collection using their local library card. Each library pays a fee for the service, which is supplemented by IMLS.

Straitiff said that service is very popular with her patrons. In 2024, 7,487 items were borrowed through Libby on Rindge cards, which is almost 13% of the total circulation for the library, and about a quarter of circulation among adult cardholders.

Peterborough Town Library Director Corinne Chronopoulos said the funding isn’t the biggest issue with Libby – though supplemented by IMLS, each library provides a fee for the use of the service. But, she said state library staff manage the purchasing of materials and oversee the program, and positions like that that are crucial to maintaining the service.

The Peterborough Town Library had 17,446 items checked out through Libby last year.

Leslie MacGregor, the director for the GEP Dodge Library in Bennington, said electronic lending has also been popular with her patrons, particularly for magazines and audiobooks, items she said are costly to obtain and take up large amounts of room if the library were to hold physical copies. In Bennington, Libby users borrowed 352 magazines, 2,061 audiobooks and 656 e-books last year.

“Our patrons very much need it, for various reasons,” MacGregor said.

According to MacGregor, one of the values of the service is that users can download the items, and then access them offline. She said it’s a good accessible tool for people who want to access audiobooks.

Chronopoulos said the potential impact to the interlibrary loan system is one of the aspects she is most concerned about.

“Interlibrary loan would be the biggest one. That’s a huge service for us,” Chronopoulos said. She said the library relies on lending between libraries to provide copies of books for the library’s book clubs, of which there are five, including two for children and teens.

Last year, the library borrowed 1,684 items through interlibrary loan and shared 778 items with other libraries, Chronopoulos said.

“That’s pretty significant,” she said. “If someone wants a book that’s specific and on a topic already well-represented in our collection, we don’t have to go out and purchase that book. It saves us money, and gives the people of Peterborough a way broader collection. Across the 200-plus libraries in the state, we’re bound to have something for them.”

Straitiff said accessing catalogs of other libraries in the state helps to fill the gaps for rural libraries that don’t have the space or the budget for every book that might be desired by a patron. In Rindge last year, the library requested 2,615 items, of which the system was able to provide 2,223, and fulfilled 1,170 requests. The library also used the system to obtain bulk copies of books for library book groups.

MacGregor said in Bennington, the library accessed 505 items through interlibrary loan last year, and lent out 785. She said she has been in the profession long enough to remember when loaning between libraries was reliant on librarians carting books to monthly meetups, calling library to library looking for a particular item or driving to neighboring towns to drop them off.

“It's a bit frightening to think that we may lose Libby and the NHAIS system, but I'm remaining hopeful that we don't, and planning on how to continue providing excellent service to our patrons if we do,” Straitiff said. “I think that the pandemic showed us how resilient librarians are. While the future of vital services is uncertain, local librarians are brainstorming ways to pivot our business models to make it work.”

“I’m worried about patrons that really depend on us for knowledge, entertainment and recreation,” MacGregor said. “It’s hard to think that can be snatched away so easily.”

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.