Are the Lights Going Out?

Volume 53, Issue 2 —— Spring 2026
Ruth Kneale

It’s been a nerve-wracking fiscal year so far for all of us in the (US-based) PAM libraries. After the President was elected, he and his new Cabinet were extremely clear in their anti-science bias. That led to the utter massacre that was DOGE. Between that disaster, and some organizations’ anticipatory cutting of budgets, massive damage has been done to science in the US. For example, NASA’s astrophysics research division was facing a 44% cut¹, which would have defunded an astonishing 41 programs, including OSIRIS-APEX, Keck Observatory, and Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Additionally, all money going towards STEM engagement (which includes REU programs) would be cut. The budget threats across the board were, frankly, terrifying from a science point of view. 

Thankfully, albeit with a lot of effort and strain, the 2026 Appropriations budget was approved at a nearly-flat rate for the NSF and NASA². However, that didn’t mean the crisis was over…

Many organizations, whether hit by the DOGE chainsaw or suffering from the enactment of as-yet unapproved budget cuts, began FY2026 by cutting their budgets and laying off staff. I’ve heard back from a few folks to my PAMnet message who shared similar stories: their institutions restructured in some way, or faced loss of grants (note: NSF-wide, there have been almost 2,000 grants cancelled so far³), that required astronomers and other scientists to take a serious hit to their salaries. This led to the departure of said staff, and we all know if the staff numbers go down, so does the library’s budget. A couple of librarians reported they’d had to cancel subscriptions as a direct result. Thankfully, no one has reported they had any layoffs of staff, but tension is high as we approach budgeting for FY27.

One of the most visible impacts late last year was the abrupt closure of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) library, which was nominally part of a planned physical reorganization of the campus, but came as a surprise to a lot of the scientific and library community⁴. According to an article from the New York Times⁵, “a NASA spokesman said the agency would review the library holdings over the next 60 days and some material would be stored in a government warehouse while the rest would be tossed away.” I’m sorry, tossed away? That library contained not only many older paper-based resources that aren’t available online, it also had “specialized equipment and electronics designed to test spacecraft [that] have been removed and thrown out”. This is just horrifying to me. The library is not the only part of the GSFC being targeted; between the DOGE layoffs, the office and building closures, and the sudden closure of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, there’s a fear that the entire shebang will be gone by the end of FY2026. 

Closer to home are cuts to the NSF that can possibly impact what I consider “my” observatories – cuts to both the National Solar Observatory, which runs the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), and the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratories (NOIRLab), which runs the Gemini Observatories. Both observatories skinned through the FY2026 budget approval process, but are in the process of having to plan for the worst. NOIRLab could be facing huge cuts, at the levels where Gemini will be operationally reduced by 50%, making it hard to actually operate it; ownership of Kitt Peak National Observatory and Cerro Tololo International Observatory would actually be transferred somewhere else; and the brand-new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is transitioning from construction to operations and was expecting an appropriately-sized budget increase, will get, at most, half of that⁶. As for DKIST, still my home and only operating for a couple of years, the threatened FY26 budget was for only $13M. “To put it bluntly,” [DKIST Director] Keller said, “for DKIST, at $13 million, we cannot operate. There’s no way for us to operate such a complex facility.”⁷ I just can’t wrap my mind around the possibility that the NSO would have to mothball the world’s most powerful solar telescope only a couple of years after bringing it online.

So, what can we do? Right now, not much, it seems. Protect our budgets as much as possible, continue to keep our scientists and senior administrators aware of our values, and write to our representatives and senators of our concerns. Handwritten letters, especially, carry a lot of weight, but even e-mail and typed letters are taken seriously.

More than ever, I think we need to save as much data as possible (i.e. LOCKSS). We need to be civically involved so our Senators and Representatives know how much we value science. And we can remember the song “Light One Candle,” by Peter, Paul & Mary from 1982. It’s a peace anthem and struggle for justice, and the chorus gave me goosebumps:

Don’t let the light go out
It’s lasted for so many years
Don’t let the light go out
Let it shine through our love and our tears