Book excerpt: This book, first published in 1988, is a guide to understand and implement the USMARC Format for Holdings and Locations with the goal of making resource sharing of serials easier. Innovative librarians on the cutting edge of technical services and automation offer information on the development of the format, the significant impact it has already had on libraries, as well as discussions about how difficult issues of interpretation have been handled. The contributors to this invaluable volume draw upon their first hand experience with the use of the format, the NISO standards, and the SISAC code to provide other professionals with an introduction to the format and information on how other institutions approached the application of the format to their particular situations.