I was going to keep quiet on this, but I disagree with part of what
Kevin Randall told Donna (sorry, Kevin!):

We (San Jose State University) switched to ANSI Z39.44 back in 1988-89;
I had 2 student assistants to help me chase down details (such as
missing issues, dates, etc.) and one CA who entered the reformatted data
into our database (she had absolutely no library experience...).  We
decided to use Level 3 of the ANSI standards rather than Level 4,
because we needed to report holdings changes in Level 3 for our union
list and couldn't stand to do the whole thing twice, each time in a
different format. (What I really mean is I, not we: I was the one who
had to do the work!)

Level 3 is a whole lot easier on personnel than Level 4, where you must
be issue specific.  I rechecked, reformatted and we entered about 12,000
holdings statements in about a year -- could have been lots sooner, but
I was also doing all the serials cataloging in those days (which is a
different story...) and could only spare 3-4 hours per day for the
holdings conversion; the CA only worked half time.

Our current database system (III) doesn't permit actual MARC standards
for a holdings statement -- unless they've very recently changed. That,
and the amount of work, was our reasoning to remain at Level 3.  While
it took a while to complete, the project itself was not difficult and
was something that the students and CA could understand easily.  It's
certainly easy enough to maintain as well.

Kathleen Thorne
Serials Cataloger
San Jose State University
kathleen@sjsuvm1.sjsu.edu