Plato's Republic was the inspiration for the theme of the 2009 Charleston Conference on Issues in Book and Serial Acquisition: Necessity is the Mother of Invention. The conference, held November 4-7, 2009, in Charleston, SC, included 10 pre-meetings, over 15 plenary sessions, and over 120 concurrent sessions. The theme reflected the changes and innovations that are taking place in collection development and acquisition activities as libraries expand services in the global marketplace while wrestling with tough economic times, including budget cuts, furloughs, and cancelation of some resources. Librarians are looking for ideas and innovation. The Charleston Conference meets that need, as attendance indicated at the 2009 occurrence of this major event for information exchange among librarians, vendors, and publishers.