A Year-End Message from Vartan Gregorian

Any managers in Libraryland who tell you they are not concerned about revenue and expenses for 2009 are clearly in denial. But while we must all plan for tight financial times, the trick is understanding what to expect. Still on a high from the I Love My Librarian awards, I'll soon be caught, along with the other unit managers at ALA, in the throes of preparing the 2010 budget. My approach is going to be one of constucting a number of possible scenarios, all beginning with the word "if": If advertising declines…, if conference attendance drops. This morning, I received an e-mail message from Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York. Carnegie supports the I Love My Librarian awards, and I had talked with Gregorian in New York during the presentation, and for Inside Scoop in October when the financial meltdown began. I'm sure he recognized the angst in my voice, along with countless others who are trying to figure our how the financial folly on Wall Street will trickle down to Main Street, which may have prompted his message. It seems designed to send us into a new and uncertain year with our eyes on the prize, namely delivering the services that the public wants in ever-growing numbers. Here's what he said: As we begin a new year with hope and anticipation, we must recognize that the economic crisis we are experiencing has affected every sector of American society and caused turmoil in the world economy. No sector has been immune to the downturn, not you and not Carnegie Corporation of New York. Given the gravity of the situation, we know that there are no simple answers to the challenges that we all face. What is certain, however, is that we remain committed to our grantees and to carrying out Andrew Carnegie's vision of philanthropy by building on his major concerns: international peace and advancing knowledge and understanding. We have been dedicated to this work for almost a century now and have continued to invest in our grantee partners through times of great social, economic and international change. Continuing to do so remains our paramount goal. We are focused today on making certain that all our grantees working on issues critical to our mission know that they can continue their vital work, aware that Corporation support will be there for them. Most important of all, we are committed to fulfilling all the grants that have been approved by the Corporation Sincerely Vartan Gregorian