We are very grateful for all of you who noticed, worried, and/or cared that there was no F. A. Davis catalog PRINTED for 2002.  I have provided a list of seven reasons that you may select from.  Take as many as you like.

• We wanted to give our website and its catalog top priority.
• Now you know we are technologically savvy. Our website hits have been skyrocketing and your lengthening visits there have surely allowed you to discover the richness of the F. A. Davis experience.
• We are not publicly traded and we enjoy flexing our independence.
• The theme of my 2001 catalog message, “Content is King at F. A. Davis” was meant to be a lasting one. Succeeding it after just one year was entirely too soon.
•  Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses has become so popular in its two-year print cycle that we decided to stage a duet with the catalog.
• We wanted to show our stodgy competitors that they are no match for us with or without a printed catalog. Small and independent equals quick and agile . . . again.
• In deference to another long (not necessarily great) tradition. F. A. Davis has grown bored of responding to constant rumors virtually guaranteeing an impending sell-out. We thought maybe if we skipped a print catalog the rumors may at least become a little more creative.

With or without a printed catalog, it was an exceptionally good year to be independent. (That’s what all independent publishers say when they’ve had a good year.)  And we thank you.  And we thank the beleaguered health care delivery system for attracting more and more capable health care professionals.  But why does it take a slumping economy to make a career in the health sciences look attractive?  Everybody says the United States will be woefully short of nurses in the year 2010, but nobody has factored in the cycle of the economy in the next seven years.  It is a very sad commentary on those in power that our health care system may need a seven-year recession to cure its staffing crisis, regardless of what Congress is doing to sweeten the pie. 

The theory, of course, relies on the premise that eligible students will opt for other more "rewarding" careers when the economy is strong, like investments, computer science, travel-related careers, etc.  When these industries are not hiring, the health sciences finally get the tired, poor, and capable masses they've been waiting for.  According to the website, www.discover nursing.com, there are well over 100,000 job openings for nurses right now.  By 2020 we could be short by as many as 454,000.

Federal legislation will help and it’s almost here, in the form of the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which at this writing, has passed both a House and Senate version and awaits a “convergence.”  By the time the President signs this bill into action, will it be enough to overcome an economic revival?

Kudos to the Johnson & Johnson Company, who has launched their “Campaign for Nursing’s Future”.  F.A. Davis Company is not affiliated with Johnson & Johnson, but we do buy their products like everyone else.  Now we buy even more of them!  We applaud their commitment to stimulating the recruitment process and award them a gold medal for their ads during the 2002 Winter Olympics and beyond.  Johnson & Johnson, we shed no tears, especially after a rinse and repeat.

And if the horde of eligible health professionals come to create a health care delivery system that serves all of us well, F.A.Davis will be ready.  The adventurous and progressive among you have already begun using PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) because for a reasonable fee you can now conveniently carry Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary and the Davis’s Drug Guide (and selected other F.A. Davis titles) almost everywhere, electronically.  We applaud your innovation and vow to reasonably support the usefulness of this technology.  And yes, the wealth of knowledge crafted into our many printed books can still be found at your favorite bookstore.  F. A. Davis Company shall be forever committed to making content delivery your preference.

And if you’re still wondering why we would interrupt such a long consecutive streak of printing catalogs, please note there is only one streak that really matters: F.A. Davis’s 124 consecutive years of independent publishing with American ownership.  Let’s enjoy it together.

	President's Letters 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2001-02 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
Robert H. Craven, Jr.