After abruptly firing the highly qualified, non-partisan longtime leaders of the Library of Congress and US Copyright Office, Donald Trump moved quickly to install loyalists with little relevant experience in their place. Todd Blanche, Trump’s personal attorney from his 2024 criminal trial and now Deputy Attorney General, was appointed acting Librarian of Congress. And Paul Perkins, an associate deputy attorney general, is acting register of copyrights and director of the Copyright Office. Additionally, Brian Nieves, a deputy chief of staff and senior counsel in Blanche’s office, was made acting assistant librarian at the LOC. The AP says, “The implications of […]
Government
White House Fires Copyright Office Director; Part 3 of AI Report Released
The Trump Administration fired Shira Perlmutter, the top copyright official in the US. The move comes two days after the White House fired Carla Hayden, the head of the Library of Congress, which maintains the Copyright Office. Hayden appointed Perlmutter to the position in 2020. Perlmutter received an email on Saturday reading, “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately,” the AP reports. As a presidential appointee, the executive branch has the power to dismiss the librarian of congress. The register of copyrights, however, is a legislative position. Congress could […]
Trump Fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden
Yesterday, President Donald Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the Washington Post reports. Hayden was the first woman, the first African American, and the first career librarian to hold the position. She was appointed to a renewable 10-year term in 2016. The email informing Hayden of the decision, which was sent by the White House deputy director of presidential personnel, reads in its entirety: “Carla, On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.” Principal deputy librarian Robert […]
Preliminary Injunction Halts Cuts to IMLS
Twenty-one states won a preliminary injunction against the Executive Order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Minority Business Development Agency, and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. The court also denied a request by the defendants, which include President Trump, to stay the decision for seven days. “This Executive Order violates the Administrative Procedures Act in the arbitrary and capricious way it was carried out,” Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. writes in an order from the US District Court of Rhode Island. “It also disregards the fundamental constitutional role of each of the branches of our […]
NEA Begins Terminating and Withdrawing Grants
The National Endowment for the Arts began terminating and withdrawing grant offers on Friday night, after President Trump proposed cutting NEA funding from the government budget. Many small publishers, magazines, and publishing-related organizations lost funding. The Community of Magazines and Literary Presses (CLMP) tells PL that they reached out to all fiscal year ’25 Grants for the Arts round one grantees in the literary/arts publishing category. “Of the 51,” said executive director Mary Gannon, “I’ve heard from 40 so far and all 40 have had their grants ‘terminated’ or ‘withdrawn.’ Some have already received payments, but not all.” Among the […]
DOGE Furloughs the Entire Staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences For 90 Days
DOGE placed the roughly 75 employees who comprise the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences on paid “administrative leave” for up to 90 days. A letter from the agency’s director of human resources told employees they would not be allowed on the premises during the leave, and their email accounts are suspended. “Please understand this action is not punitive but rather is taken to facilitate the work and operations of the agency,” the letter claims. The workers are represented by the AFGE Local 3403 union, which says the action came after a “brief meeting between DOGE staff and IMLS leadership.” […]