The 2009 database marketplace is bounded by two extremes: massive digitization projects to increase access, and retrenchment owing to budget worries. Picture medieval monks hunched over their desks in the scriptorium as they labor to copy manuscripts. A 21st-century version of this activity is being repeated daily in the world's libraries and publishing houses as major digitization projects seek to preserve millions of printed books and documents. The work of medieval scribes ensured that the classics were available when the invention of movable type and the printing press made books accessible to the masses, transforming the world. Today's laborers are hunched over digitization equipment, but their goal is the same: copying and preserving resources so they are available now and into the future. Before the printing press made books more affordable, only the well-to-do could afford libraries of manuscripts. Similarly, many companies today are concerned with how libraries will face growing budgetary problems. Twenty-two of the 39 companies that responded to this survey cited the budget as the most important issue in 2009. Demonstrating value via high usage or enhanced and intuitive platforms will become even more crucial as libraries decide which products to keep or cancel. In response to the economy, many companies have frozen prices and are releasing fewer new collections in 2009, focusing instead on improving existing collections.