Exploring River Basins with a Natural Resources Digital Library IAMSLIC Conference Portland, Oregon October 9, 2006 Janine Salwasser Oregon State University Libraries

Digital Libraries Defined “… a managed environment of multimedia materials in digital form, designed for the benefit of its user population, structured to facilitate access to its contents, and equipped with aids to navigate the global network …” Mel Collier, ISDL’97,

Natural Resources Digital Library Vision  Oregon Explorer™ as the “go to” place for natural resources information  Create a “purposeful” digital library Information and map-making tools to help people learn about and make better natural resource decisions throughout the State  Address importance of “place” Access to multiple spatial scales wanted and needed (basin, county, state, region)

Oregon Explorer Public Release in Spring 2006

Oregon Explorer Users  Natural resource decision-makers  Local planners  Extension agents  Watershed council members  Soil and water conservation district staff  Scientists  Researchers  Educators  Students  Media staff  Citizen volunteers  Landowners  Interested public

Designed with and for the users

Willamette Basin Explorer The first prototype of the Oregon Explorer Released in June Provides access to multi-format information for places of interest, tools for integration and synthesis, people resources and stories.

Using and providing access to archived source materials

Creating a Map with the Basic Mapping Tool

Creating a Map with the Advanced Mapping Tool

Map of Historic Vegetation for Columbia Slough Watershed

Digital library prototypes

Digital library information and tools

 Browse multi-media stories  Learn about critical natural resource issues  Make custom maps  Access archived digital information  Generate statistical reports  Search datasets  Download and upload GIS data  Contact the experts  Give feedback Digital Library Services Available for anyone who has Internet access…from work, home, library, etc.

Oregon Explorer Public Release in Spring

For more information, you can contact the Oregon Explorer co-managers  Janine Salwasser, OSU Libraries  Jimmy Kagan, OSU Institute for Natural Resources