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The Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently announced plans to close two of its five libraries to address a $300 million budget gap, blaming it partly on actions by the Trump administration.
The budget cuts also include library staff and the purchases of print books and journal subscriptions, the Boston Globe reported over the weekend.
MIT spokesperson Kimberly Allen said reasons for the cuts include the new 8 percent tax on university endowments, which President Donald Trump signed into law over the summer, according to The Tech, MIT’s student newspaper.
She also attributed the shortfall in part to the federal government’s cuts to scientific research, telling The Tech:
Allen also explained that MIT cannot use its endowment to cushion these effects because “the endowment already supports approximately 40% of [the] annual campus budget.” Furthermore, 80% of the endowment has already been earmarked for specific purposes determined by donors.
The budget cuts, announced on the MIT Libraries website Nov. 19, include the closures of the Dewey and Barker libraries in June 2026.
“Items from the Barker and Dewey collections will remain fully accessible by request, with pickup and delivery options available,” the announcement states.
The institution also plans to cut staff at a third location, the Rotch Library, in 2027.
One employee, Kendall Dawson told the Globe that she thought her job was secure because the libraries are already understaffed.
“They could not afford to get rid of me because the library could not work without the operational staff, and the thing I didn’t consider is that they didn’t care whether the library was even open,” Dawson said.
However, fewer students are using print materials, the Globe reports:
Print collections at the university are used far less than they were even a decade ago, making up less than 1 percent of the total library use and foot traffic in most campus libraries, a spokesperson confirmed.
“I believe these decisions represent the most strategic path to preserving the MIT Libraries for our full community,” said director of libraries Chris Bourg in a statement. “They are in keeping with our commitment to being a digital-first library and will help ensure that we remain an innovative library system, strategically aligned with MIT, in the years to come.”
Meanwhile, MIT has a $27.4 billion endowment, which earned nearly 15 percent on investments last year, according to the institute’s annual financial report, published in October.
MIT pays the highest endowment tax rate under the new federal law. The rate ranges from 1.4 percent to 8 percent, depending on the amount of the institution’s endowment compared to the number of students enrolled there.
MORE: Economist explains effect of Trump’s new endowment tax on universities
