USMARC Format Integration, Part II: Implications for Local Systems

When we last left USMARC format integration (see "USMARC Format Integration, Part I: What, Why, and When?" The Public-Access Computer Systems Review 3, no. 5 (1992): 33-36; GET CAPLAN PRV3N5 F=MAIL), it was defined, approved, and in imminent danger of being implemented. We concluded then that format integration would have to offer substantial benefits to the end users of our public catalogs to be worth the bother. Before going on to consider what some of those benefits might be, it's worth spending a little time belaboring the bother.