With the completion of its annual audit, the final financial results for the Center for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2002 are now available. These results show that CRL realized an increase in unrestricted net assets of $256,000 for the year, well above the budgeted deficit. (CRL budgets a decline in unrestricted net assets to reflect the impact of the depreciations of the building and long-term assets, which are non-cash expenses and not supported by current year revenues.)

Unrestricted revenue for the year reached $4,990,000 and exceeded budget by $167,000 due to the admission of new members and microfilm sales above projections. In addition, CRL realized sizable restricted grant income in FY 2002 of $909,000, earmarked for specific projects in that year and following years.

Unrestricted expenses for the year were $4,734,000, $390,000 below budget. This favorable variance was due to staff positions held open during the presidential transition, and interest and utility costs below budgeted levels.

With the favorable results of the past two years, CRL has managed to restore its core reserves back to a level approximating three months of operating expenses, the absolute minimum level acceptable to sound financial management. It has accomplished this without any extraordinary membership fee increases or service curtailments. However, the current challenging financial environment for academic libraries means that near-term opportunities for continued savings will be greatly diminished.