Book excerpt: The Tenth United States National Conference on Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation was held June 17-20, 1997 at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. The SRI National meeting is held every two years, and this year was hosted by CHESS, the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source. As a national meeting, it serves as a venue for all light sources in the United States to discuss the latest, most advanced capabilities in the fields of X-ray and VUV synchrotron radiation. Topics for this year's meeting included: Facilities: history, status, and upgrades Sources: insertion devices, laser, excited and other High-tech: beam stabilization, beamline hardware, and control Optics: novel design, fabrication, testing and use Small stuff: making and imaging micro structures Real-time: in-situ measurements and materials characterization Detectors: large, small, fast, and energy-resolving