This article reports on a 2009 budget survey conducted by "Library Journal" in which a random sample of U.S. public libraries were surveyed via mail or fax in October 2008. Those that answered the survey projected a modest increase in budgets for 2009, just 2%, with less than a 1% increase in funds for materials, a predictable area for cuts. That represents a clear tightening from last year's report (see "Treading Carefully," "LJ" 1/08, p. 49-51). While in last year's report, respondents talked about a 4.2% increase in per capita funding for FY08, the respondents to this year's survey--a different cohort--say they received a 4.7% increase in per capita funding but expect only a 2% rise for FY09. Some 70% of all libraries project an increase in total operating budgets, but only 53% are looking forward to an increase in materials funding. Indeed, in some size categories, including the smallest and largest libraries, materials budgets are expected to decline. The materials budget is one of the few areas where libraries have flexibility. About 12.5% of the total operating budget in 2008 and 2009 goes toward materials, with an average of $5.34 per capita this year; personnel costs, even with the notoriously low library pay, make up 60% of the budget.