ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries May 1 9 9 5 /3 1 9 Internet resources for the earth sciences By Flora Shrode Cobb and Edw ard F. L en er F in d in g those g e m s in th e rough T he fundamental goal of earth science investigations is to understand the geologi processes affecting the world around us. Som of the better-known concentrations in the fiel are: assessm ent o f energy and mineral re sources, establishment of factors that affect lan use and maintenance o f environmental qual ity, and seeking to understand the nature an mitigate the impacts of geologic hazards suc as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and land slides. Internet resources in earth sciences hav been developed by a diverse range of group including universities and other educational fa cilities, research organizations, federal govern ment agencies, publishers, and private indus try. Gopher, ftp, and World Wide Web (WWW home page sites make it possible to gain ac cess to data sets, publications, software, direc tories to agencies and personnel, and educa tional materials. In addition, Internet sites wil often cross-reference one another enabling th searcher to find information on other host com puters. Earth sciences is a very broad field and ha interdisciplinary ties with many other areas. Thi resource guide offers a sampling o f key site which focus on such aspects of geology as struc tural geology, geophysics, geochemistry, min eralogy, geomorphology, and hydrogeology. The purpose of this guide is to offer brief de scriptions o f several prominent sites which ex emplify the types o f tools and information avail able over the Internet. Numerous other source ­ c e d ­ d ­ d h ­ e s ­ ­ ­ ) ­ ­ ­ l e ­ s s s ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ s are available which address fields related to geosciences, such as geographic information systems (GIS), cartographic and mapping tools and data, climatology, environmental science, and space and planetary sciences, to name only a few. In general, sources listed here serve as starting points to uncover links to data resources and directories in more specialized areas. Sources listed here come predominately from the United States, although there are a few in­ ternational listings. Be aware that the changing nature o f the Internet may result in some of the addresses listed here being incorrect at the time the reader tries to connect. An excellent, near- exhaustive tool for anyone exploring Internet- accessible resources in earth and environmen­ tal sciences is Bill Thoen’s On-line Resources for Earth Scientists (ORES) which is available from ftp://ftp.csn.org/COGS/ores.txt. Many of the tools described here are listed in the Geol­ ogy and Geophysics section o f Thoen’s list. Major government agencies • U n ite d S ta te s G e o l o g ic a l S u r v e y (USGS). USGS Home Page. A ccess: http:// www.usgs.gov/. The USGS Home Page is al­ ways evolving and now includes a publications catalog and full text of some USGS items, in­ cluding titles in the Open File Reports series. Announcements, news reports, and informa­ tion about educational resources and services offered by the USGS are posted and regularly updated. Along with providing information about the agency, the home page serves as a link to many more specialized sites such as volcano observatories, the National Geophysi­ cal Data Center, and other Internet sites affili­ ated with the USGS or covering related topics. Flora Shrode Cobb is reference coordinator, scien ce a n d technology, a t the University o f Tennessee Libraries, Knoxville, e-m ail: cobb@utklib.lib.utk.edu; Edw ard F. Lener is scien ce reference librarian a t Virginia Polytechnic Institute a n d State University Libraries, Blacksburg, e-m ail: lener@ υtυm l.cc.vt.edu ftp://ftp.csn.org/COGS/ores.txt http://www.usgs.gov/ mailto:cobb@utklib.lib.utk.edu 3 2 0 /C & R L News The USGS offers a registry of Earth and En­ vironmental Science Internet Resources (http:/ /www.u sg s.g o v / n e tw o rk / scie n ce/ e arth / earth.html) which is a useful collection o f In­ ternet resources with links to dozens o f sites around the world. • U n ite d S ta te s B u r e a u o f M in es (USBM). A ccess: http://www.usbm.gov/. This home page offers general information about the history and objectives of the USBM and its organizational structure. Other options on the introductory menu are a gateway to other In ternet-accessible services from the USBM and a bimonthly list o f new publications that are available. • USDOC/NOAA/NESDIS/National Geo­ physical Data C enter. U.S. Dept of Commerce (USDOC), National O ceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmen­ tal Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS). A ccess: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ aboutngdc.html. The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) supports national research on the environment and offers public domain data to a wide user community. Major fields for which the center manages data are solar-ter­ restrial physics, solid earth geophysics, marine geology and geophysics, paleoclimatology, and glaciology. NGDC maintains Geophysical On- Line Data (GOLD) which contains over 300 digi­ tal and analog databases, many of which are accessible via Web browser software, gopher, and anonymous ftp. In addition to work on cooperative projects with government agencies, universities, and nonprofit organizations in the U.S., it interacts with foreign scientists to foster global information exchange. • Sandia N ational Labs G eo scien ce & G e o t e c h n o lo g y C e n t e r . A c c e s s : http:// sair019.en erg ylan .sand ia.gov:70/0/Sandia_ Geosciences/center.html. The Geoscience and Geotechnology Center initiates and manages projects that Sandia National Labs carry out in the oil, gas, and geothermal industries. The Correction In the “Internet resources for education” article in the March issue of C&RL News we inadvertently gave the wrong address for the listserv KIDLIT-L. The correct address is: KIDLIT-L@bingvmb.cc.binghamton.edu. The editors regret the error. center supports basic geoscience research and technology development for energy recovery and storage, disposal of radioactive waste, and remediation of contaminated sites. • British Geological Survey (BGS). A c­ cess: http://www.nkw .ac.uk/bgs/home.html. BGS, the national geological survey o f the United Kingdom, was founded in 1835 and provides geological information for the land and offshore areas of the United Kingdom and the nearby continental shelf. The home page contains information about BGS publications, datasets, and archives. • W orld D ata C e n te rs. A ccess: http:// w w w .ngdc.noaa.gov/w dcm ain.htm l. Estab­ lished in 1957, World Data Centers first origi­ nated in the International Geophysical Year (IGY). At last count there were 44 centers in the World Data Center system although many are not yet Internet-accessible. Centers are funded by national institutions, such as NOAA’s NGDC, and are located in the U.S.A., Russia, Europe, Japan, India, and China. Their work is intended to make data available to scientific workers in all countries. The International Council o f Scientific Union’s (ICSU) Panel on World Data Centers and its predecessor bodies set guidelines which govern the ce n ­ ters’ activities. Research and educational institutions and associations Many research and educational institutions and associations offer information about courses of­ fered and directories of staff with their research interests. Introductory menus may offer an op­ tion to get information about the Internet in general and about software used to browse resources. Items appearing on menus often connect to other institutions’ gophers and WWW home pages. In some cases, a host site for a Web page or gopher system may offer access to specialized services for users in its institution’s community. Such services are usually limited by contractual agreem ents to use by mem­ bers o f the primary community, and menu items may indicate such restrictions by a note su ch as “lim ited a c c e s s ,” o r “[Institution Name] access only.” • G eological Society o f A m erica (GSA). A ccess: http://www.aescon.com/geosociety/ index.html. The society’s home page offers a membership directory, calendar o f meetings, guide to society awards and grants, and link to the GSA Institute for Environmental Education. http://www.usbm.gov/ http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/wdcmain.html http://www.aescon.com/geosociety/ mailto:KIDLIT-L@bingvmb.cc.binghamton.edu May 19 9 5 /3 2 1 • C o lo ra d o S c h o o l o f M ines. A ccess: http://gn.mines.colorado.edu/l/. This site is a very typical university WWW home page with the school’s course catalog, directory o f per­ sonnel, and calendar posted. The section called “World Resources and Services” leads to Colo­ rado gopher services, U.S. government infor­ mation, library resources such as reference tools, electronic books and selected journals, and Internet-accessible library catalogs, and other Internet services. • E arth Sciences an d R esources Insti­ tute (ESRI). A ccess: http://www.esri.utah.edu. A university-based (University of South Caro­ lina and University of Utah) geoscience research organization, ESRI conducts national and inter­ national multidisciplinary research related to the earth sciences, including the disciplines of ge­ ology, geohydrology, geothermal, geophysics, and geochemistry. The Institute provides edu­ cational opportunities for advanced degrees in technical and managerial preparation for stu­ dents working on projects within these and related disciplines. • P enn sylvan ia State U niversity. Earth Sy stem S c ie n c e C e n te r: a c c e s s : http:// www.essc.psu.edu/; College o f Earth & Min­ eral Sciences: a c c e s s : http://www.ems.psu. edu/. The Earth System Science Center is formed by Penn State’s departments o f Geosciences, Meteorology, Geography, and Mineral Econom­ ics. Research emphases are the global water cycle, biogeochemical cycles, and human im­ pacts on the Earth system. O f particular inter­ est are the pointers to over 140 additional earth science education resources. The College o f Earth and Mineral Sciences hom e page o f­ fers descriptions o f undergraduate and gradu­ ate programs, directories o f the faculty and students involved, and inform ation about Penn State com puting services and educa­ tional facilities. • MIT E a r t h R e s o u r c e s L a b o r a t o r y (ERL). Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A ccess: http://www-erl.mit.edu/. Re­ search at MIT’s ERL focuses on applied geo­ physics as it relates to tectonophysics, seismol­ o g y ( e s p e c ia lly s e is m ic e x p lo r a tio n ), environmental engineering, and parallel com­ puting. Special topics for which pointers are available include the Borehole Acoustics and Logging Consortium, the Center for Advanced Geophysical Computing, the Global Position­ ing System [GPS], and New England Seismic Network / MIT. • E a r th q u a k e I n f o r m a t i o n G o p h e r fro m th e N ational In form atio n Service fo r E arth q u ak e E n g in eerin g (NISEE). A ccess: goρher://nisee.ce.berkeley.edu:70/l. This go­ pher is a public service project o f the Earth­ quake Engineering Research Center at the Uni­ versity o f California at Berkeley and is designed to gather information on earthquake engineer­ ing, earthquake hazard mitigation, earthquake disaster response, and related subjects. • CIESIN. Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network. A ccess: h ttp :/ / in fo s e r v e r.c ie s in .o rg / u s d a / u s d a - hom e.html. CIESIN supports efforts o f the USDA’s Global Change Program Office to docu­ ment the results of ongoing global change stud­ ies in agriculture and forestry. Projects under­ taken by the Consortium em phasize pres­ ervation and dissemination o f data useful in policy making and research on agricultural pro­ ductivity, soil erosion, irrigation water demands, and water quality. • Global Change Data and In form ation S ystem (GCDIS). A ccess: gopher://gopher. gcdis.usgcrp .gov:70/. Established by the Com­ mittee on Earth and Environmental Sciences (CEES) in response to the Global Change Re­ search Act o f 1990, the GCDIS is designed to facilitate access to global change data and in­ formation for members o f the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), members o f academia, and the international community. • U niversity o f C alifornia M useum o f Paleon tology. A ccess: http://ucmpl.berkeley. edu/. Displays interesting exhibits, an educa­ tional Geological Time Machine, and links to other major sites for paleontology. • U niversity o f W ash in gton G eophys­ ics P ro g ra m . A ccess: http://www.geophys. w ashington.edu/ or http://www .geophys. washington.edu/seismosurfing.html. In addition to offering descriptions o f specialized research programs at the University o f Washington, this site offers an extensive directory o f resources for seismic information. Funding sources • NSF Science and Technology Inform a t i o n S y s te m (S T IS ). A c c e s s : gopher:// stis.nsf.gov:70/ll/ or http://www.nsf.gov/. The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) gopher of­ fers access to NSF publications organized by the NSF Directorate that published the docu- (Intem et cont. on p a g e 3 2 5 ) http://gn.mines.colorado.edu/l/ http://www.esri.utah.edu http://www.essc.psu.edu/ http://www.ems.psu http://www-erl.mit.edu/ http://infoserver.ciesin.org/usda/usda- gopher://gopher http://ucmpl.berkeley http://www.geophys http://www.geophys http://www.nsf.gov/ May 1 9 9 5 /3 2 5 skills, creativity, incentive, flexibility, teamwork, and problem-solving skills are incorporated. The seminar’s participants were well in­ formed on issues of American and British li brarianship. They were enthusiastic and com­ mitted to their jobs, eager to make the necessary changes, receptive to ideas, and had viable solutions to their problems. Most have e-mail addresses and are eager to establish contact with libraries abroad. The majority o f represented libraries are automated or will be soon. I was very impressed with the Copernicus University Library, a leader among Polish li­ braries and a pioneer on several fronts. Under the dynamic leadership of director Stefan Czaja, it is the first library in Poland that changed its organization into a less bureaucratic, more democratic and user-friendly one. After an in depth study of integrated library systems, it pur­ chased the one meeting its specific needs. The library, now preparing to convert to open stacks, will be the first library in Poland, perhaps in Eastern/Central Europe, to do so. Our hospitable and gracious hosts organized a tour to the beautiful University of Gdansk Library and the Solidarity Plaza and Monument. We visited the magnificent cathedral at Pelplin and saw the “Gutenberg Bible.” We attended a concert on the ancient organs at the cathedral in Oliwa, and another one by the Torun Or­ chestra where a Russian female soloist played Chopin exquisitely. Very impressive was the visit to the Teutonic Knights medieval castle in Malbork dating back to the 13th century. And the ancient town of Torun, the birthplace of Nicholas Copernicus, gave us much to ponder. Since my last visit to the Copernicus Library in May 1993 many user-friendly changes oc­ curred. Most striking were increases in auto­ mation, signage, and the establishment of ref­ erence services. I came back convinced that contact with European libraries is beneficial and enriching to all, and welcome by our colleagues abroad. It is evident that our common missions, goals, problems, and solutions far outweigh our differences. (Internet cont. fr o m p a g e 3 21) ment. Two indexes assist in locating specific documents available for retrieval, and the in­ dex to award abstracts is searchable. Ftp sites for software and documents • C om puter-O riented Geological Soci­ ety (COGS). A ccess: ftp://ftp.csn.net/. • National Spatial Data In frastru ctu re (N SD I) M e ta D a ta S ite s . A c c e s s : ftp:// ftp.blm.gov/pub/gis/nsdi.html. Clearinghouse provides a pathway to find information, or metadata, about geospatial data available from USGS. Internet finding tools • EINet G alaxy . A ccess: http://galaxy. einet.net/galaxy/Science/Geosciences.html. • WWW Virtual Library. A ccess: http:// www.geo.ucalgary.ca:80/VL-EarthSciences.html. • Y ah o o Server at Stanford University. Access: http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/Sci ence/Geology_and_Geophysics/. Usenet groups and mailing lists Usenet news groups and electronic mailing lists create a means for practitioners in the field to share research findings, discuss problems, an­ nounce conferences and events in the field, and pose questions to groups of people with common interests and expertise. U senet g r o u p s • s c i . g e o . g e o l o g y . This is the primary newsgroup for geology with discussion of gen­ eral interest geological topics. • s c i .g e o .h y d r o l o g y . Discussion forum for topics in surface and groundwater hydrology. • s c i .g e o .e a r t h q u a k e s . Discussion list for seismological topics and earthquake activity. M ailing lists • GEOLOGY. S u bscribe: listserv@ptearn. bitnet. • GEONET-L. S u bscribe: listserv@iubvm. bitnet. Geoscience librarians and information specialists. • HYDROLOGY. S u bscribe: listserv@eng. monash.edu.au. Hydrology topics from Monash University in Australia. • QUAKE-L. A ccess: ftp://vml.nodak.edu/ LISTARCH/QUAKE-L and listserv@vml.nodak. edu or listserv@ndsuvml.bitnet. General earth­ quake discussion. • SEISMD-L. S u bscribe: listserv@bingvmb or listserv@bingvmb.cc.binghamton.edu. Seis­ mological discussion. ftp://ftp.csn.net/ ftp://ftp.blm.gov/pub/gis/nsdi.html http://galaxy http://www.geo.ucalgary.ca:80/VL-EarthSciences.html http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/Sci- ftp://vml.nodak.edu/ mailto:listserv@bingvmb.cc.binghamton.edu