CORNING, NY (WENY) -- It's not at all unusual to see people reading inside of a library. But Friday, Corning's Southeast Steuben County Library was full of people sitting down with a book, to make a statement. The library hosted a read-in, in a show of support to the important services it provides, in the face of federal funding cuts.

Library leaders say there is reason to be concerned, after the President Trump signed an Executive Order in March, ordering the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, or IMLS. On March 20, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor, Keith Sonderling was appointed acting director of IMLS, and later placed all staff on administrative leave for up to 90 days.

Last week, libraries across the country began to receive notice from the IMLS that 2024-2025 grants awarded under the federal Library Services and Technologies Act have been terminated. For New York alone, that's $8.1 million for 7,000 libraries state-wide that have lost federal funding.

"We want to show how important [libraries] are to our country. And also, there's been cuts to the IMLS, which is the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and those cuts are going to have negative impacts on libraries throughout the country, so we want to raise awareness for that; we also want to raise advocacy for that," explained Pauline Emery, Director of the Southeast Steuben County Library.

To show how vital libraries are to their communities, the Southeast Steuben County Library had people pouring in Friday, books in hand, for the library's read-in. Emery said local libraries are so much more than books; they're gathering spaces, places to learn new skills, and use services online.

"So, 24/7 you can access your library, so I think that's important for people to know. We have Hoopla [a streaming service for libraries], and Libby [e-book lending] services, so you could, from your home, stream movies from Kanopy [on-demand video streaming for libraries], which is another platform. Those things with your library card, are free. So that's another great thing libraries provide, is 24/7 services," Emery said.

Eighth grader Jamey Graham was among the crowd of people who showed up Friday to support the read-in. She said she visits the library at least once or twice every week.

"I love how they are accepting different people, i love how they have all types of books," she said.

She showed up to support the cause, and make a bigger dent in her latest read.

"I am reading Breaking Dawn, the last book of the Twilight series, actually. And so when I finish, me and my mom are going to watch both parts of Breaking Dawn," she said.

Near the entrance the the library, visitors could write which book they were reading on a Post-It, and stick it to the wall. Within the first 30 minutes of the event, the wall was filling up with bright blue, pink, orange and yellow Post-Its, scrawled with book titles.