NDGA Workshop September 2005 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey USGS National Geospatial Digital Archive activities

2 Why Collect Data "Data are the lifeblood of science and..., [if meeting] established retention criteria, are a critical national resource and must be protected, preserved, and made accessible to all people for all time.“ 1 1 National Academy Press, 1995, Preserving Scientific Data on Our Physical Universe: A New Strategy for Archiving the Nation's Scientific Information Resources

3 Who we are – The USGS Established in 1879 USGS Mission Serves the Nation…

4 USGS Records Management Policy The USGS will establish and maintain an active and continuing Records Management Program for the economical and effective creation, maintenance, use, preservation, and disposition of USGS records in full compliance with all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. Chief, Office of Information Services is responsible for management of the USGS Records Management Program.

5 Geospatial Data Holdings Analog holdings –  Maps (to include all related source and production information and data)  Collection of over 56,000 maps and over 1 million items/pieces of map information Digital holdings –  digital representations of map information  collection of aircraft and satellite images and data  Collection of over 23.3 million items  Collection of over 3 Petabytes (growing at 1 terabyte per day)  Media – 9940B nearline Silo and LT02 Linear Optical Tape Over 45 Employees engaged in data preservation activities

6 Paper Products, Film, Digital Data, Challenges Collect Preserve Archive