Library cuts across Massachusetts deepen digital divide
Online tools, literacy classes and research databases are vanishing from local libraries.
Massachusetts libraries face sweeping service reductions as federal funding cuts threaten critical educational and digital access programmes. Local and major libraries are bracing for the loss of key resources including summer reading initiatives, online research tools, and English language classes.
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) said it has already lost access to 30 of 34 databases it once offered. Resources such as newspaper archives, literacy support for the blind and incarcerated, and citizenship classes have also been cancelled due to a $3.6 million shortfall.
Communities unable to replace federal grants with local funds will be disproportionately affected. With over 800 library applications for mobile internet hot spots now frozen, officials warn that students and jobseekers may lose vital lifelines to online learning, healthcare and employment.
The cuts are part of broader efforts by the Trump administration to shrink federal institutions, targeting what it deems anti-American programming. Legislators and library leaders say the result will widen the digital divide and undercut libraries’ role as essential pillars of equitable access
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