Editor’s Corner: A Light in the Darkness

I have sat down to write this editorial countless times over the past few months. Every time I think I’m ready, something else pops up in the news that causes me to renavigate my thoughts and emotions. These are troubling times for not just all librarians and libraries, not just for those in our communities that rely on us and our work, but also the grander government information landscape. To try and cover all that has happened in the few months since President Trump began his second term would be a paper in itself. I ask for your understanding as I briefly address just two of these areas

First, presidential actions targeting minorities with far- reaching, negative consequences have become the norm. Any effort to support minorities has been labeled “DEI” and dismantled in a variety of settings.1 Trans, nonbinary, intersex, and people whose identity falls outside of the strict gender and sex binary have been targeted, demonized, and denied their existence, despite all historical, contemporary, and biological evidence.2 Fundamental, Constitutional rights, such as birthright citizenship and voting, are being attacked.3 Legal challenges have been made in response, with judges issuing injunctions, some of which have been ignored, and numerous lawsuits filed.4 However, the immediate damage has been done, and will continue, unless these actions are reversed.

Second, presidential actions and the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have slashed federal funding to critical resources.5 These budget cuts include firing swaths of federal employees, freezing grant funding, and ending or greatly reducing research and data efforts.6 As a result, we are losing critical institutional knowledge and infrastructure, skilled labor and the promise of a future federal workforce, and long-standing, critical data resources. As with the other presidential actions, these have led to legal challenges, including injunctions and lawsuits—and as with the other presidential actions, the damage has real time, potentially irreversible effects.7

However, I want to leave you all not with these heavy thoughts, but with a message of hope. Andie Craley’s From the Chair column in this edition highlights several efforts both within and beyond the library community to preserve access to crucial data resources, inform others of the ongoing situation with the federal government, and advocate for the library community as well as open and free access and preservation of government information.

Many of us already support these efforts; I ask all of us to remember that anything we do, however small, joins with the efforts of others. Together, we are lights in the darkness, with the potential to ignite more even as we offer comfort to those looking for us. We must not let these times extinguish our light. Existence is resistance.

The views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT), the American Library Association (ALA), Lamar University, or any other entity.

References

1. Exec. Order No. 14148, 90 Fed. Reg. 8237 (Jan. 28, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-01-28/2025-01901; Exec. Order No. 14151, 90 Fed. Reg. 8339 (Jan. 29, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-01-29/2025-01953; Exec. Order No. 14173, 90 Fed. Reg. 8633 (Jan. 31, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-01-31/2025-02097; Memorandum Keeping American’s Safe in Aviation, 90 Fed. Reg. 8651 (Jan. 31, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-01-31/2025-02099; Exec. Order No. 14253, 90 Fed. Reg. 14563 (Apr. 3, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-04-03/2025-05838.
2. Exec. Order No. 14168, 90 Fed. Reg. 8615 (Jan. 30, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-01-30/2025-02090; Exec. Order No. 14187, 90 Fed. Reg. 8771 (Feb. 3, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-02-03/2025-02194; Exec. Order No. 14190, 90 Fed. Reg. 8853 (Feb. 3, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-02-03/2025-02232.
3. Exec. Order No. 14160, 90 Fed. Reg. 8449 (Jan. 29, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-01-29/2025-02007; Exec. Order No. 14248, 90 Fed. Reg. 14005 (Mar. 28, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-03-28/2025-05523.
4. Cecelia Smith-Schoenwalder, “These Are the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Executive Orders,” U.S. News, March 25, 2025, https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/how-many-of-trumps-executive-orders-are-being-challenged; Marc Caputo, “Exclusive: How the White House Ignored a Judge’s Order to Turn Back Deportation Flights,” Axios, March 16, 2025, https://www.axios.com/2025/03/16/trump-white-house-defy-judge-deport-venezuelans.
5. Exec. Order No. 14158, 90 Fed. Reg. 8441 (Jan. 29, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-01-29/2025-02005; Exec. Order No. 14222, 90 Fed. Reg. 11095 (Mar. 3, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-03-03/2025-03527.
6. Exec. Order No. 14238, 90 Fed. Reg. 13043 (Mar. 20, 2025), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/FR-2025-03-20/2025-04868; Stephen Fowler, “Federal Agencies Plan for Mass Layoffs as Trump’s Workforce Cuts Continue,” NPR, March 15, 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5328721/reduction-in-force-rif-federal-workers-job-cuts-musk-doge-layoffs; Cory Turner, “The Education Department Is Being Cut in Half. Here’s What’s Being Lost” NPR, March 13, 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/03/12/nx-s1-5325854/trump-education-department-layoffs-civil-rights-student-loans.
7. Marina Dunbar, “U.S. Health Secretary and Agency Sued by 23 States and D.C. Over $11bn Funding Cut,” The Guardian, April 2, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/02/rfk-hhs-layoffs-lawsuit; Michael Sainato, “Judge Orders Trump Administration to Reinstate Most Fired Probationary Staff,” The Guardian, March 13, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/13/federal-court-orders-fired-workers-doge; Elena Moore, “A Second Federal Judge Has Ruled to Block the Trump Administration’s Spending Freeze,” NPR, March 6, 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/03/06/nx-s1-5312069/trump-federal-funding-freeze-court-order.