ABSTRACT
Writing in today's climate on funding resources and priorities for cooperation is risky. The story of a harried Ivy League political scientist comes uneasily to mind. The professor, an authority on Latin America, was late for class. Rushing into his office, he grabbed what he thought were his lecture notes on Latin American federalism, and sprinted to class. When he arrived at the lectern, he opened the folder and found it empty. Unfazed, he gave his students a piercing look and said, “Gentlemen, there is no federalism in Latin America,” and walked out. Ladies and gentlemen, there may soon be no federal funding resources for libraries and archives in America. It now seems at least possible that balancing the federal budget will wreak havoc on all programs that librarians and archivists have labored so hard to establish, leaving a void that state, local, and private sources cannot possibly fill. Under these circumstances, planning, goal and priority setting, and cooperative ventures become all the more important.
