Considers aspects of building, maintaining, and using United States MARC format and other related standards, discussing costs and benefits, MARC and the American National Standards Institute's Z39 standard, effects of MARC on content and processing, compatibility between and within standards, and MARC in practice. Nineteen sources are cited. (EJS)

A full-service national network of library and information services can only become a reality if there is careful articulation among local, state, multistate, and national planning and implementation activities. The role of the state library agency as coordinator, catalyst, initiator, and even-handed funding agency is essential, difficult, and…