Peggy Frank loves old research books, especially ones about history. But they aren’t always available through her local library collection in Naperville, where she’s lived for the past 45 years.

But in Frank’s community — and hundreds like it in Illinois — proximity is not a prerequisite for access. Not with a state’s-worth of reading material available for the asking.

For nearly 15 years, she has made use of a popular library loaning system that has allowed suburban towns, local universities and small museums to share their books and other materials with each other. Overseen by the Reaching Across Illinois Library System and partially funded by the federal government, the books are shuttled between libraries and loaned out to interested parties in just a few days.

The delivery program has become so entrenched in northern and western Illinois communities, more than 7.9 million books and other resources were shared among 1,250 libraries last year at no extra cost to the institutions or patrons. Couriers also logged more than 1.1 million miles moving the materials around the area, according to RAILS.

“It’s like magic,” Frank, 72, said.

But that magic may soon disappear.

President Donald Trump last month ordered the gutting of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that serves as a key source of funding for museums, libraries and educational institutions across the country. The cuts, which are still being rolled out, could prove devastating to the interlibrary loan program throughout the region.

RAILS and the Illinois Heartland Library System, the state’s other major library delivery service that reaches southern and central parts of Illinois, receive about $2.5 million annually for delivery services, about one-third of their budgets, through IMLS funding. Though the state was told to expect this year’s award around April 20, the program officer who oversees Illinois funding has been terminated and the money has not yet arrived, according to a spokesman for Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.

Several states, including California, Connecticut and Washington, already have been stripped of their 2025 allocations. And South Dakota libraries recently were instructed to suspend its interlibrary courier program.

“Stripping these vital resources threatens the sustainability of our libraries and amounts to a disinvestment in an educated and informed society,” Giannoulias, who also serves as the state librarian, said in a statement.

Before placing IMLS staff on leave last month, acting Director Keith E. Sonderling said the federal agency would realign its mission to fall into lockstep with the Trump administration.

“We will revitalize IMLS and restore focus on patriotism, ensuring we preserve our country’s core values, promote American exceptionalism and cultivate love of country in future generations,” Sonderling said in a statement.

IMLS did not return repeated requests for comment.

The union representing IMLS employees has warned that without staff members to administer the programs, it’s most likely the grants will be terminated. If the grant falls through, it would send RAILS, one of the country’s largest interlibrary sharing programs, into doubt.

“When you ask our libraries, (it’s) the thing that they just could not live without, frankly,” said Joe Filapek, RAILS’ associate executive director.

Founded in 2011, RAILS provides a wide range of services, from continuing education and consulting resources to e-content support and interlibrary loans. Without IMLS funding, the delivery system would take the biggest hit, officials said.

Funding cuts would likely slow loan deliveries, reducing the number of books in circulation and forcing patrons to wait longer, officials said.

“In 2025, when I can order something to have it on my doorstep in two hours, to tell your residents that they might have to wait two weeks to get a book through delivery, it’s just not … sustainable,” Filapek said.

Book clubs may be hit

Potential service delays would be felt particularly hard in communities such as Hinckley, a small town about 17 miles west of Aurora. For nearly a century, the public library has rented space in the village’s community building, and it relies on RAILS deliveries to enhance its modest collections.

The Hinckley library has one full-time staff member — library Director Rylie Roubal — and five part-time staff members. Last year, Hinckley library members borrowed about 20,000 items from the library — almost 3,000 of them from interlibrary loans through RAILS.

Roubal said they receive deliveries three times a week. The frequency of delivery is dependent on the volume of books being requested. Reduced service would leave Hinckley residents without the materials they need because the library can’t afford to purchase them, she said.

“We don’t have any slack,” Roubal said, noting that having to pay for delivery would mean cuts to other things — books, hours, staff. “Every budget year, we’re trying to figure out how, how do we increase minimum wage while still keeping the lights on. And can we buy enough books, while also keeping the furniture from falling apart?”

RAILS’ Executive Director Monica Harris said smaller libraries are justified in their concerns.

“It effectively can kill off services, if you’re held to only the materials that you have there on your shelf in your tiny, little, maybe one-room library that’s open only a certain number of hours a week,” Harris said.

Yorkville Public Library, with just five full-time employees and 20 part-time staff, is similarly reliant on interlibrary loans. From May 2023 to April 2024, for example, of the approximately 90,000 checkouts their library saw that year, over 16,000 were materials from other libraries obtained via interlibrary loans, according to Yorkville Public Library’s Director Shelley Augustine.

Orland Park Library Director Mary Adamowski said that when the administration started slashing various federal agencies and organizations, she had her fingers crossed that it wasn’t going to affect IMLS.

“But as soon as the executive order came through … we knew that there would be a ripple effect across the nation with the libraries,” she said.

Adamowski reiterated concern for RAILS but also lamented the threat to future funding opportunities that IMLS cuts pose.

“It strips away these vital resources that we want to be able to offer to our patrons,” she said.

And libraries, which provide free access to books, entertainment, internet and technology, become a particularly valuable resource during times of economic uncertainty. This is especially true in under-resourced populations, Harris said.

“These libraries know how needed they are,” Harris said. “They wanna make sure that they’re there for their communities. This is why they got into this work.”

What happens next?

On April 4, a coalition of attorneys general from 21 states — including Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul — filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over the IMLS cuts. They argue that the president “cannot decide to unilaterally override laws governing federal spending and that this executive order unconstitutionally overrides Congress’ power to decide how federal funds are spent.”

But as funding remains uncertain, it’s up to the local libraries to keep their patrons informed about what will happen — a job the typical library employee didn’t sign up for, Harris said.

“We’re talking about civil servants,” Harris said. “They’re giving story times to small children, like they’re checking out people’s books for them and helping older people learn how to use technology …They didn’t go to school to be advocates to their local legislator. This is something that they just want to continue to do, the work that they’re doing.”