NBII and the FGDC CAP Grant: Building Metadata Partnerships Vivian Hutchison Metadata Program Coordinator NBII/USGS

The NBII is a federation of biological information sources and tools to help users find biological information and to combine information from various sources The NBII has a biological information focus, on both geospatial and non-geospatial data NBII is supported by the US Geological Survey What is the NBII?

Background on the NBII Metadata Program Purchase price reduction on metadata creation tool Record creation assistance Quality Control (QC) Clearinghouse What Metadata services does NBII provide? Training

Background on the NBII Metadata Program Clearinghouse experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (TN) How is the metadata program organized? Program Coordinator at NBII/USGS (VA) QC staff at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center (CO) Metadata creation expert (MD) Trainers throughout the United States

To encourage organizations with established metadata programs to assist other organizations without resources and staff to develop innovative approaches to the implementation and service of metadata. Federal Geographic Data Committee CAP Grant: Metadata Outreach Category 3

Major CAP Grant Project Partners NatureServe Partnership Objective: Conduct workshops in Basic Metadata Training and serve metadata on NBII Clearinghouse. USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System Program Partnership Objective: Update existing metadata, train staff in metadata creation, and serve metadata on the NBII Clearinghouse.

The National Wildlife Refuge System is a network of protected areas providing essential habitat for wildlife, public recreation, and benefits to communities USFWS is the principal agency through which the federal government carries out its responsibility to conserve, protect, and enhance the nation’s fish and wildlife and their habitats for continuing benefit of the people Partnership 1: USFWS National Wildlife Refuge System

Evolution of the Project: USFWS NBII and USFWS developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the project Outlined project details Defined responsibilities for both organizations Early Steps:

Evolution of the Project: USFWS USFWS identified and prioritized: -- other data sets in need of metadata -- existing metadata records for national wildlife refuge (NWR) boundaries NBII Quality Control team: -- began verifying NWR boundary records for FGDC standard compatibility

Evolution of the Project: USFWS formats of existing metadata records records created 4-5 years ago: - semi-compliant metadata - earlier versions of Metadata Parser (MP) were used to check records, but only HTML files were saved different documentation methods used (e.g., Arc Catalog, WordPerfect template, MetaMaker, etc.) Issues encountered in updating existing NWR boundary metadata records:

Evolution of the Project: USFWS Update Process Collaboration on creation of a metadata record template: -- standard text for most required fields -- placeholders inserted for elements that change from refuge to refuge USFWS converted all html files to text -- used NBII batch programs to strip HTML tags (Detag) and pre-parse the records (CNS)

Evolution of the Project: USFWS Update Process NBII QC team and USFWS filled in the placeholders: -- refuge name -- bounding coordinates -- quad names -- publication dates Final quality control check through NBII: -- Metadata Parser (MP)

USFWS Record in FGDC Standard

Evolution of the Project: USFWS NBII Clearinghouse NBII uses a “harvesting” method to bring metadata records into the Clearinghouse USFWS placed copies of newly compliant metadata files in a web accessible area (secure ftp site) NBII harvests records weekly USFWS has its own “node” on the NBII Clearinghouse that is searchable independently or as part of a larger search USFWS is also a registered node with the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)

Evolution of the Project: USFWS Clearinghouse

Evolution of the Project: USFWS Next Steps USFWS and NBII will continue to identify and review records for remaining refuge boundaries Records will continue to populate the NBII Clearinghouse USFWS will continue to build its metadata program - and NBII will continue to provide its support

Partnership 2: NatureServe NatureServe is a non-profit organization that provides scientific information and tools needed to help guide effective conservation action. NatureServe and its network of natural heritage programs collect and manage data about rare and endangered species and threatened ecosystems.

Evolution of the Project: NatureServe NBII and NatureServe agreed to conduct 4 metadata workshops in different areas of the country Each workshop was offered to participants from the NatureServe organization and NBII partners Each workshop was 1-1 ½ days in length Early Steps: Travel funds were offered to those partners in need of assistance by both organizations

Evolution of the Project: NatureServe NBII and NatureServe conducted 4 metadata workshops in different areas of the country Training Workshops Pine Mountain, GA : November 2003 Arlington, VA: February 2004 Fort Collins, CO: April 2004 LaCrosse, WI: March 2004

Evolution of the Project: NatureServe Training Workshops Pine Mountain, GA : 13 participants, 8 organizations Arlington, VA: 18 participants, 8 organizations Fort Collins, CO: 23 participants, 16 organizations LaCrosse, WI: 3 participants, 1 organization

Evolution of the Project: NatureServe Content of Training Workshops Introduction to the FGDC content standard and the Biological Data Profile Hands-on practice producing documentation for data sets Metadata clearinghouse Development tools Strategies for metadata production

Evolution of the Project: NatureServe Results of Training Workshops New NBII Clearinghouse nodes New relationships with organizations willing to post their metadata records in the future 57 more people trained in metadata creation

Next Steps: NatureServe The NBII will continue to foster relations with NatureServe and the Heritage Programs NatureServe will become a node on the NBII Clearinghouse The NBII will continue to reach out to Heritage Programs to get their metadata online

Other CAP Grant Results: NBII Co-hosted “Train the Trainer” Workshop Halifax, Nova Scotia: November 2003 Partners: FGDC and Environment Canada 65 participants 2 trainers Live translation into French and Spanish “Basics of Metadata” Workshop Seattle, WA: March 2004 Partner: US Corps of Engineers 15 participants 7 organizations represented

Vivian Hutchison Metadata Program Coordinator NBII NBII and the FGDC CAP Grant: Building Metadata Partnerships