GEOREF: FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE GEOSCIENCE COMMUNITY

In June of 1967, AGI received funding from the National Science Foundation to begin development of what would become one of its most impactful and longest running projects – GeoRef. The project was originally entitled ‘Geological Reference File: Operation of a Computer-Based Bibliographic Data Bank’. By 1973, GeoRef was accessible through a computer-based dial-up service and, by 1978, was available for mediated use through libraries in the U.S. CD-ROM options in the mid 80’s fueled growth and made the database accessible to anyone with a computer – including scientists located in isolated parts of the globe. The internet provided a big leap forward and, by 1997, GeoRef was available on most of the web-based platforms that provide access to bibliographic databases. Another leap was seen in 2004 when GeoRef participated in the formation of GeoScienceWorld – a unique publishing platform that merges access to GeoRef with the full-text from 50 journals and 2300 ebooks. Steady progress continues as the search platforms evolve to allow increased discoverability – e.g. DOI links to full-text, map-based search options, NLP enhancements to search queries. The database now provides users with the option to explore more than 4.5 million references to geoscience publications and includes references to publications originating in 140 countries and written in 60 different languages. GeoRef staff continue to identify, select, and describe the global geoscience literature and make the database available to more than 2000 subscribing organizations around the world. While GeoRef is the primary bibliographic database that AGI produces, the need for focused study has led to a series of smaller, targeted databases on specific geographic regions or topics. The most recent serves the carbon storage community by tracking research publications from the Midwest Regional Carbon Initiative and its predecessors. In 2022, in keeping with AGI’s sustainability initiatives, GeoRef staff began tagging new publications based on their relevance to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to allow users to quickly locate current literature that can be applicable to the issues addressed by the SDGs. Looking forward, AGI and GeoRef staff continue to examine options provided by increased interoperability of publishing platforms.