Library of Congress seeks $946.2 million for FY2026 to expand digital collections, preservation and copyright modernization

Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden told a House Appropriations subcommittee that the Library’s fiscal 2026 appropriations request totals $946.2 million and focuses on digital modernization, preservation and service to Congress. "The mission of the Library of Congress is to engage, inspire, and inform the Congress and the American people with a universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity. And above all, the library exists to serve," Dr. Hayden said in her opening remarks.

Hayden described three programmatic requests in the FY2026 package: $5.4 million for preservation object storage upgrades, $2.5 million annually for web application delivery and management improvements, and $6.8 million over three years for the U.S. Copyright Office to accelerate the registration component of the Enterprise Copyright System. She said the library also requests $30.9 million for mandatory pay and price‑level increases.

The librarian emphasized the library’s digital expansion and the workload growth behind it. "We produced in fiscal 2023 12,700,000 digital images," Dr. Hayden said, noting that digital usage and web traffic have grown substantially since 2019. She described an "e‑preferred" strategy to provide material in digital formats and said the library revised programmatic increases to reduce long‑term costs amid current economic conditions.

Members questioned Hayden about a cybersecurity incident last year. She told the committee the library took cybersecurity seriously, engaged vendors, and "the threat actors are not in our environment at this point," adding that the agency had sought and received reassurances from multiple vendors that the threat had been alleviated.

Hayden warned that if requested funds are not provided, the most immediate consequence would be a reduction in buying power for materials and pressure on staff retention and modernization work. She said the library would try to avoid cutting cybersecurity work even if other programmatic requests were reduced.

The hearing also featured testimony from Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office, and Karen Donfried, Director of the Congressional Research Service. Donfried, who recently returned to CRS leadership after previously serving as an analyst, said CRS is experiencing heightened demand: "we are really busy" and staff across the service see "an increase of about 30% or so of requests." She added that CRS fields about 75,000 requests annually and urged support for a programmatic increase to enhance quantitative data‑analysis capacity and effective use of new tools, including AI.

Donfried described a strategic goal of ensuring "that Congress turns to CRS first," noting competition for staff attention from public search tools and AI. Committee members asked how CRS would remain a trusted source and how resources would be applied to strengthen data analytics in support of congressional policy work.

Ending: Dr. Hayden and other library leaders told the committee they would prioritize cybersecurity and preserving staff expertise if appropriations remain flat; members may submit additional questions for the record and the library promised follow‑up on program implementation details and modernization timelines.