Five Months into the Trump Presidency: Charting the latest offensives against libraries and how advocates are pushing back; American Libraries, June 18, 2025

Hannah Weinberg  , American Libraries; Five Months into the Trump Presidency: Charting the latest offensives against libraries and how advocates are pushing back

"Since our last report, libraries have continued to experience significant upheaval from President Trump’s actions. In May, the Trump administration fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. We also saw legal cases challenging the administration’s defunding of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) continue to make their way through the courts in May and June. Meanwhile, library advocates contacted their legislators to fight for federal library funding in fiscal year (FY) 2026.

Here are several updates on the attacks against libraries across the US and the ways in which library supporters are pushing back."

The U.S. Copyright Office used to be fairly low-drama. Not anymore; NPR, June 6, 2025

 Andrew Limbong, NPR ; The U.S. Copyright Office used to be fairly low-drama. Not anymore

"The U.S. Copyright Office is normally a quiet place. It mostly exists to register materials for copyright and advise members of Congress on copyright issues. Experts and insiders used words like "stable" and "sleepy" to describe the agency. Not anymore...

Inside the AI report

That big bombshell report on generative AI and copyright can be summed up like this – in some instances, using copyrighted material to train AI models could count as fair use. In other cases, it wouldn't.

The conclusion of the report says this: "Various uses of copyrighted works in AI training are likely to be transformative. The extent to which they are fair, however, will depend on what works were used, from what source, for what purpose, and with what controls on the outputs—all of which can affect the market."

"It's very even keeled," said Keith Kupferschmid, CEO of the Copyright Alliance, a group that represents artists and publishers pushing for stronger copyright laws.

Kupferschmid said the report avoids generalizations and takes arguments on a case-by-case basis.

"Perlmutter was beloved, no matter whether you agreed with her or not, because she did the hard work," Kupferschmid said. "She always was very thoughtful and considered all these different viewpoints."

It remains to be seen how the report will be used in the dozens of legal cases over copyright and AI usage."

Leadership Limbo at the Library of Congress; Library Journal, May 23, 2025

Hallie Rich, Library Journal; Leadership Limbo at the Library of Congress

"REMAINING NONPARTISAN

According to reporting across major media outlets, staff continue to await guidance from the congressional committees charged with LoC oversight—and questions over the future of the Library as a nonpartisan legislative branch agency hang in the balance. The Congressional Research Service (CRS), the research arm of the Library that works exclusively for members of Congress, provides confidential policy and legal analysis to lawmakers and staff of both chambers, regardless of party affiliation...

WILL CONGRESS ACT?

Politico reported on May 21 that Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) “thinks Congress needs to take charge in naming the heads of major legislative branch agencies, including the Library of Congress and Government Accountability Office.” Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) recommended modifying the process for appointing the Librarian of Congress, citing legislation she wrote that removed presidential involvement in appointing the architect of the Capitol. “Just like we changed the rules with architect the Capitol, we should change them here,” she told reporters.

Legislation that would grant appointment authority for the Librarian of Congress, the leader of a legislative branch agency, exclusively to Congress is one potential path forward.

Library professionals who are concerned about the independence of the Library of Congress should "reach out to your member of Congress,” says one source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, “and do so quickly.” The White House’s effort to install new leadership at the Library was staved off because staff are awaiting direction from Congress.

The Librarian of Congress is not appointed at the sole discretion of the president—an appointment requires Senate confirmation. According to reporting by The New York Times, LoC staff are currently following internal procedures by keeping Newlen in charge, but more permanent answers to questions about the future of the Library as a nonpartisan legislative branch agency appear to lie, at this time, with members of Congress."

The Library of Congress Shake-Up Endangers Copyrights; Bloomberg, May 24, 2025

Stephen Mihm, Bloomberg; The Library of Congress Shake-Up Endangers Copyrights

Democrats press Trump on Copyright Office chief’s removal; The Hill, May 14, 2025

 JARED GANS, The Hill ; Democrats press Trump on Copyright Office chief’s removal

"A half dozen Senate Democrats are pressing President Trump over his firing of the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, arguing that the move is illegal. 

“It threatens the longstanding independence and integrity of the Copyright Office, which plays a vital role in our economy,” the members said in the letter. “You are acting beyond your power and contrary to the intent of Congress as you seek to erode the legal and institutional independence of offices explicitly designed to operate outside the reach of partisan influence.” ...

The head of the Copyright Office is responsible for shaping federal copyright policy, and the senators argued the role is particularly crucial as the country confronts issues concerning the intersection of copyright law and technologies like artificial intelligence."

Trump Installs Top Justice Dept. Official at Library of Congress, Prompting a Standoff; The New York Times, May 12, 2025

Maya C. Miller and Devlin Barrett , The New York Times; Trump Installs Top Justice Dept. Official at Library of Congress, Prompting a Standoff

"Around 9 a.m., the two Justice Department officials arrived at the library’s James Madison Memorial Building and sought access to the U.S. Copyright Office, which is housed there. They brought a letter from the White House declaring that Mr. Blanche was the acting librarian and that he had selected the two men for top roles at the agency.

They were Paul Perkins, an associate deputy attorney general who the letter said would serve as the acting register of copyrights and the director of the Copyright Office, and Brian Nieves, a deputy chief of staff and senior policy counsel who had been designated as the acting deputy librarian. Mr. Trump also fired the previous director of the Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, over the weekend, one of the people said.

Staff members at the library balked and called the U.S. Capitol Police as well as their general counsel, Meg Williams, who told the two officials that they were not allowed access to the Copyright Office and asked them to leave, one of the people said.

Mr. Perkins and Mr. Nieves then left the building willingly, accompanied to the door by Ms. Williams. The library’s staff is recognizing Robert Newlen, the principal deputy librarian who was Dr. Hayden’s No. 2, as the acting librarian until it gets direction from Congress, one of the people familiar with the situation said.

In a brief email to the staff on Monday, Mr. Newlen noted that the White House had named a new acting librarian and suggested that the matter was still unresolved."

Trump fires Copyright Office director after report raises questions about AI training; TechCrunch, May 11, 2025

 Anthony Ha , TechCrunch; Trump fires Copyright Office director after report raises questions about AI training

"As for how this ties into Musk (a Trump ally) and AI, Morelle linked to a pre-publication version of a U.S. Copyright Office report released this week that focuses on copyright and artificial intelligence. (In fact, it’s actually part three of a longer report.)

In it, the Copyright Office says that while it’s “not possible to prejudge” the outcome of individual cases, there are limitations on how much AI companies can count on “fair use” as a defense when they train their models on copyrighted content. For example, the report says research and analysis would probably be allowed.

“But making commercial use of vast troves of copyrighted works to produce expressive content that competes with them in existing markets, especially where this is accomplished through illegal access, goes beyond established fair use boundaries,” it continues.

The Copyright Office goes on to suggest that government intervention “would be premature at this time,” but it expresses hope that “licensing markets” where AI companies pay copyright holders for access to their content “should continue to develop,” adding that “alternative approaches such as extended collective licensing should be considered to address any market failure.”

AI companies including OpenAI currently face a number of lawsuits accusing them of copyright infringement, and OpenAI has also called for the U.S. government to codify a copyright strategy that gives AI companies leeway through fair use.

Musk, meanwhile, is both a co-founder of OpenAI and of a competing startup, xAI (which is merging with the former Twitter). He recently expressed support for Square founder Jack Dorsey’s call to “delete all IP law.”"