Your local library may be a polling place, an emergency hub — and a building in crisis

Terry Gerton You’ve got a new report from GAO, a recent report, that highlights how aging public library facilities could be undermining vital community services. I’m a library kid, I always was. I love public libraries. But what specific challenges did you uncover as you looked at building conditions and accessibility?

David Marroni Simply the amount of libraries in this country that have facility issues — at this point, most libraries are over 40 years old, which is exactly when you start to have maintenance and repairs issues with your buildings. There are so many different funding sources for libraries that vary across states, across localities. But just a growing aging of condition of these buildings that’s really hard for some systems to keep up.

Terry Gerton That’s probably true with all kinds of local government buildings more than 40 years old. Why did you focus on public libraries?

David Marroni The Congress passed an appropriations act in FY24 directing us to take a look. They were interested in knowing, for the nation’s libraries, what is the current state of play in terms of their physical condition, and what would it cost to bring those libraries up to good repair? So that’s the purpose of this report.

Terry Gerton I mean, libraries are in a way that we often don’t even register, centers of community life. They are places where people vote. They are places where people access the internet for all kinds of purposes, like job applications. They’re places for community meetings. What is the state of these issues and what’s driving the lack of facility repair?

David Marroni Well, many things are driving it. I mean, it depends on the localities these libraries are based in. States provide some funding for libraries, but most library funding comes from the locality they’re in and the jurisdiction, which could be counties, cities, multiple counties and cities — it really varies. What we found when we made a survey of libraries across the country, and also made visits to over 23 libraries across the country to get a sense of things, was that many have facility conditions issues. More than 40%, we estimate across the country, of the nation’s more than 16,000 libraries had some building systems that were in a state of poor repair. And that means those buildings aren’t going to be able to fulfill their missions as well as they could. It means that you may ultimately have to pay more to fix those up if they’re deteriorating and you don’t address those issues at that time. So pretty significant issue, given the important role libraries play in local communities.

Terry Gerton It feels a little like the pot calling the kettle black for the federal government, given its deferred maintenance backlog on the buildings that it owns, to be looking at public libraries. But given the scope of the deferred maintenance and safety concerns and the variable sources of funding that you mentioned, what kinds of recommendations could GAO offer here to help address this shortfall?

David Marroni So in this case, we actually didn’t make recommendations. This report describes the situation and is basically providing information to Congress to consider if it wants to take any additional steps to help the nation’s libraries. Congress has already provided funding for years through the Institute of Museum and Library Services to provide grants to states and localities for purposes of library services and programming. Right now, that funding does not support facility repair or construction. And so the question that this report is providing is, again, what is the state of facility conditions out there in the nation’s public libraries? What would it cost to repair them? And that’s for Congress to then consider. Does it take any additional actions on that front, or does this stay at a state and local level?

Terry Gerton I’m speaking with David Marroni. He’s director of physical infrastructure at GAO. Well, let’s talk about the Institute for Museum and Library Science for just a minute, because in 2025, it was funded at $308 million to support those kinds of programmatic grants to libraries across the country. And President Trump, in his 2026 budget, proposed that it be funded at $5.5 million, so just enough to cover salaries. What happens to community libraries if they lose that programmatic source of funding?

David Marroni If they have a hole in their budget, that would ultimately affect the level of programming and services those libraries can provide; depends on each individual community. Some would then have to get additional funding from their local government to continue to provide services. Some might be able to fundraise. There are multiple funding sources that go here, but it’s going to depend a lot on that individual library system and their capacity to raise other funds, particularly when you’re talking about rural libraries, smaller jurisdictions where their tax base may be lower and they might not be able to fill those gaps, which could lead to those programming and services just being cut.

Terry Gerton In the course of your report, you surveyed, I think, over 16,000 libraries. You talked to librarians, you talked to constituents. What did you hear in the course of the survey, especially from the librarians, about what they think they need?

David Marroni So definitely, it varied. But what we heard pretty consistently across the board, about 40% we estimate in the country have building systems that are in need of repair, that are important condition. Also about 40% of libraries nationwide we estimate have an accessibility issue. Are there steps leading into the library that doesn’t have a ramp for someone in a wheelchair? Are there other issues that would limit access to the facility? And then more than half identified a potential health and safety concern, typically related to the size of the library or accessible routes outside of the building if there were to be an issue. So again, pretty consistently hearing a significant chunk of the nation’s libraries having these facility issues that really affect their ability to perform their mission.

Terry Gerton And did you hear from the librarians that they had access to their local decision-makers to think about alternative sources and repairs?

David Marroni Well, certainly they do, and that is their primary source. The vast bulk of funds that go to library systems come from the local jurisdictions. So those certainly are where their primary sources of funding come from. Those are the officials that they would be most responsible for going to, to find any additional funding needs in addition to potentially the state, potentially other grants or fundraising. But that’s really going to vary by community how successful they’re going to be in finding those funds. Again, as you get into jurisdictions with lower tax bases, smaller jurisdictions, areas that may be less economically strong, you may have challenges finding that funding.

Terry Gerton I guess then, what might be the options at the federal level? Does this mean that Congress might consider different uses for IMLS grants or other sources of funding to help subsidize those local budgets?

David Marroni It could potentially. I mean ultimately that’s up to Congress. So far, Congress has in recent years appropriated money for programming and services. As you noted, the administration has proposed a much lower level of funding going forward. Ultimately that’s a decision for Congress and the executive branch to make through the legislative process. So we don’t have a position on whether funding should be provided for construction facility repairs. We’re really just trying to tell the story of what the condition of the nation’s libraries are currently and the gap that exists.

Terry Gerton And what has been the response from Congress to the report?

David Marroni So Congress has received the report. I think it will be useful information as IMLS comes up for reauthorization potentially in the near term. As Congress considers the upcoming appropriations act, how much funding does it want to provide? And if it does provide additional funding to IMLS, will it allow that to go to facility repairs and construction, or to stick with just programming services? Again, it’s a policy choice.

Terry Gerton In the meantime, as listeners are processing what we’re talking about here, what should they know about the potential local impacts or even public safety and community access questions if this deferred maintenance problem remains unaddressed?

David Marroni  It’s going vary by system. It depends on what deferred maintenance you’re talking about. Sometimes deferred maintenance is okay. If you’re planning to replace a building, if you’re planning to move to a different location, even if you have deferred maintenance in that facility, it doesn’t make much sense to spend money on repairing it. But in other situations, it can really matter. If you have a roof that is failing, that could impact the collections, that could have water intrusion, that creates mold, that creates health issues. So it’s really going to come down to the individual library system. But deferred maintenance just in general — whether you’re talking about libraries, federal buildings, your own home — is not great because it means, one, the quality of that facility is declining. But two, it might mean higher costs later on to repair because something that could have been fixed with a small amount of funds takes more to replace when it actually breaks.