TO KEEP OR NOT TO KEEP: THAT IS THE QUESTION.: ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES AND REWARDS OF GEOSCIENCE DATA PRESERVATION, UT BUREAU OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY RESEARCH CENTERS

Even though most geoscientists recognize the value in preserving and providing access to previously acquired geological samples, institutions and individuals involved in curating these materials face serious ongoing challenges including, but not limited to underfunding, understaffing of knowledgeable professionals, and the lack of adequate facilities in which to properly curate materials. Similar difficulties arise when digitalization of paper geological and geophysical data is proposed. The University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) has found that pursuing the following new ways of doing business has resulted in greater financial support for the preservation of geoscience materials and the digitalization of accompanying metadata. Recent and specific examples will be discussed for each point.

• Creating a new business model for BEG Research Center that involves requesting one-time contributions from donors when they give geological samples to BEG Research Center –funds go into an endowment that generates enough interest to cover the operating cost of the core and sample repository.
• Actively participating in, and supporting the USGS-administered National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program, a federally funded program that offers funding for state geological surveys and other federal DOI for geoscience data preservation projects.
• Forging partnerships with industry to facilitate the no-cost digitization of tens of thousands of paper geophysical logs from previously drilled oil and gas wells.
• Actively pursuing, participating in, and publishing research based on application of new, state-of- the-art technologies performed on geological samples from BEG Research Centers.
• Aggressively working to improve the quality of the online, publicly accessible database of BEG geoscience material.
• Conducting workshops and other continuing education courses for geoscience professionals at BEG Research Centers. Workshops and courses typically utilize material from BEG collection, thereby raising awareness of the value of the collection to the geoscience community. Costs of workshops also defray some of the annual operating costs of the research centers.