Committee for the Preservation of Samples & Cores

Reports, Minutes

Committee for the Preservation of Samples & Cores Meeting Minutes (click on date to see the minutes):

• Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1999
• Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2000 
• Report from February 2001
• Minutes from the Conference Call of 4/05/2001
• Minutes from the Annual Meeting - 6/04/2001

4/5/2001 Conference Call  of  AAPG Committee  for the Preservation of Cores and Samples

The following members participated in the conference call April 5, 2001,  3:00 to 4:15 p.m.:   Edie Allison, Marv Carlson, Doug Patchen, Bob Horton, and Sherilyn Williams-Stroud. 

*         Edie reported that the AAUW policy statement on Preservation of  Geological and Geophysical Data, approved by the Executive Committee in December, 2000, is on the Division of Professional Affairs web site (click on "official Position Statements")

 *         Doug reported that the Advisory Committee had identified our committee as one "member enhancement activity" and Don Lewis has been appointed to report back to the AC on what they can do to help us.  No one came up with any suggestions. 

 *         Marv and Sherilyn will investigate the possibility of chairing or  hosting a "core" session at the 2002 national meeting in Houston.

 *         We need to update the web site. Does it have the article by Scott  Montgomery?  Link to policy statement? Show mission statement as final not draft.

 *         We need to encourage AGI to update the news on the NGDRS web site. 

 *            Development of a fact sheet on core disposal regulations was discussed.  Marv suggested that we need to interact with the council of state regulatory officials of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Comm.  We decided the fact sheet development should be a topic at the Denver meeting 

 2)        The National Research Council Study of Preservation of Geoscience Data and Collections  held its initial meeting April 6 - 8, 2001.  The Study is chaired by Christopher G. Maples, Professor of the Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington. At least four of the ten people on the panel are members of AAPG, suggesting good representation of the petroleum sector.  During the open sessions, sponsoring organizations, Department of Energy, US Geological Survey, American Geological Institute, AAPG, and National Science Foundation described the scope of their interest in data preservation and their expectations from the study.    In addition, NASA, Joint Oceanographic Institutions, the Library of Congress, and the members of the committee spoke on aspects of geoscience data and its preservation.  In closed session, the committee discussed the scope, audience and schedule of the study.  The meeting also included a visit to the Smithsonian.

 3)        Draft Agenda Committee on Preservation of Cores and Samples
            Monday, June 4, 2001, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
            Gold Coin Room, Marriott City Center Hotel

 Possible topics: 

 *          National Research Council Study of Geoscience Data and Collections - Chris Maples, Chairman (invited)
 *          American Geological Institute on Future Plans for National Geoscience Data Repository System (NGDRS) - Marcus Milling (invited)
 *          How this committee could work with AGI and other groups on Future Directions for GeoTrek  - Sheilyn Williams-Stroud
 *            Development of a fact sheet on core disposal regulations
            *            A state regularoty official (Marv)
            *            Core appraisal (Edie)
            *            Appalachian region rules (Doug)
 *         New State Repositories - examples of increased capacity and/or new services, Ohio and/or Kentucky (Doug)
 *         Tim Carr has offered to speak on "Disseminating core and other geologic data"

 4)       Continuing Committee membership

According to my records, the following individuals' term of membership on  this committee is ending at the end of June this year.  Please notify me as soon as possible whether you wish to remain on the committee.  If you do not, please recommend someone that you believe would be interested in working with this committee.    

Edie Allison
April 19, 2001

Minutes:  Committee on Core and Sample Preservation Meeting
June 4, 2001, Denver, Colorado

The committee met from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., Monday, June 4, 2001 in the Gold Coin Room, Marriott City Center Hotel, Denver, Colorado.  Highlights of the reports and discussion:

• Chris Maples, Chairman of the National Research Council study on Geoscience Data and Collections described the study activities and schedule that will lead to a final report in March 2002.  The NRC committee meeting in Denver June 7 ? 9, is scheduled to include tours of the US Geological Survey Core Research Center, the National Ice Core Laboratory, Denver Earth Resources Library and the Boulder National Geophysical Data Center.  
   
• Chris Keane and Marcus Milling, American Geological Institute, provided an update of their work on the National Geoscience Data Repository System:  data is being incorporated into Geotrek at an accelerating rate; funding for Geotrek is unsure when the current Federal grant expires at the end of 2001; AGI is hoping that the March 2002 NRC study will identify multiple government agencies that could provide future funding; the site receives about 500 ? 600 unique users per month. 

Comments from the committee regarding Geotrek:  the AGI needs to do more to publicize its accomplishments; this committee should work with AGI to update the directory of repositories; the Geotrek user interface is too slow and requires the user to know the type of data needed rather than providing all data for a location; greater interaction between AGI and the state repositories and regulatory agencies is encouraged. 

The committee encourages AGI to increase communication with public/state repositories, perhaps through a periodic newsletter.  This could contribute to increased the amounts of data being provided to AGI.  Communication of lessons learned and best practices would also help states that are starting to automate their data.    

• Tim Carr described the Kansas Geological Survey online system for data management and distribution.   Committee members were impressed with the large variety of visual and tabular data in the system and the ease of use.  We  asked Tim to provide supplementary information on system costs and its links to Geotrek.  It was also suggested that the Kansas example might be incorporated in a ?best practices?  article for the AAPG Explorer.
   
• The committee proposed these future actions:  work with AGI to update the Catalogue of Data Repositories; Explorer articles on ?best practices? for core preservation, the NRC study, and/or use of core in research; develop presentation material on the benefits of public/state repositories.
   
• A conference call will be scheduled this summer to discuss implementation of next year?s activities and projects.

Participants:

Edie Allison, Marvin Carlson, Doug Patchen, Bob Hulse, Marcus Milling, Christopher Keane, Chris Maples, Dan Halgerson, Bill Ellington, Tony Kolodzoij, Sherilyn Williams-Stroud, Chuck Noll, Don Lewis, Larry Knauer, Julie LeFever, Bill Gwilliam, and Tim Carr.