ABSTRACT
Since the publication of the previous edition of this book, one of the major changes that has taken place in the area of culture collections has been the efforts to standardize how repositories function. To this end, the United States Culture Collection Network was founded in 2012 [1]. The network's mission is to:
facilitate the safe and responsible utilization of microbial resources for research, education, industry, medicine, and agriculture for the betterment of humankind by providing opportunities for US culture collection workers to engage with each other and with the broader culture collection community
