Even in the best of times, librarians have to be concerned about funding. Librarians who are faced with reducing expenditures have to consider which of them are essential for the institution to fulfill its mission. With all the changes that today's information technologies have brought, the library's role both now and in the future is not as easily defined as it once was. The future of the library is currently being debated outside the library community as some question the need to pay for these institutions because of the widespread availability of the Internet. Coping with budget cuts is never easy, but once the initial despair subsides, librarians need to explore all of their alternatives. Certainly, publicizing their plight is helpful, but they also need to develop a strategy that will preserve the library's mission while coping with the loss of funds. Clearly expressing the library's mission and its ongoing value in these changing times is essential if librarians are to be successful in their pursuit of needed funding. (Contains 8 resources.)