Thanks to everyone who participated in the DESC (Digital Environment for Sample Curation) Webinar. The materials are posted on this page.

Introduction to DESC, Digital Environment for Sample Curation (Kerstin Lehnert)

Cyberinfrastructure Needs of the U.S. Core and Sample Repositories (Anthony Koppers)

State Geological Surveys: Capabilities and Needs (Lee Allison)

Development Considerations for DESC (Jeff Heard and Mary Whitton, RENCI)

From Sarah Timm (Virginia Museum of Natural History)Q: I developed a program called EGEMS specifically for cataloging geological materials including but not limited to rocks, minerals, research products, etc and I am wondering if there is any room for collaboration. I agree with everything you have said about the importance of preserving our collections and increasing their accessibility and I spent my master’s thesis at Virginia Tech researching and developing a potential solution to this growing need. This was shortly before EarthCube was developed and the only programs for recording data for geological materials were very expensive and designed for large museums. I have given talks at GSA these past few years and have touched on almost all of the topics you have in this talk. I would very much like to be a larger part of this initiative, can you tell me if and how this might be possible? Thank you.
Information about EGEMS and screenshots of the program can be viewed at www.egemsinfo.comA: Yes, please contact us at info@54.224.199.193 if you would like to take on a collaborative role. Another great way to participate is to fill out the DESC survey about data management and sample curation challenges.

From Ramona Walls (University of Arizona)Q: I am involved in an effort to develop an ontology for biological collections (http://code.google.com/p/bco/). One goal is to allow linking of data that is annotated with existing standards such as Darwin Core or MIxS. This is going hand in hand with other efforts, for example, to develop standard identifiers for biological specimens. The motivations were almost identical to what you have described for earth science collections during the first two talks. Many of the ontology design patterns we are developing for describing biological samples could be translated directly into earth science samples. It would be great to coordinate the efforts across our communities. Anyone who would like to contact us can use the mailing list at https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/bco-discuss.

DESC Repository Survey: We need your help in gathering requirements for DESC. Please, tell us about your data management and sample curation challenges.

Sign up for the community mailing list for DESC, SESAR², and IGSN

Please send any questions or comments to info@54.224.199.193.

DESC webinar video, presentations, and Q&A

SESAR² is working with sample repositories to improve linking between existing sample information. The IMLGS (Index to Marine & Lacustrine Geological Samples) has provided links to their records for over 35,000 SESAR² sample profiles for several sample repositories. The links appear at the bottom of the sample profiles.

Sample repositories with this improved linking include:

The Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility (example)

The Lamont Doherty Core Repository (example)

The University of Rhode Island Marine Geological Samples Laboratory (example)

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (example)

Any user can add relevant URL links to their own profiles by choosing the “edit” link in MySESAR. For bulk updates please contact info@geosamples.org.

New linking to the Index to Marine & Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS)

The following questions were submitted by participants during the Introduction to the IGSN Webinar on March 27, 2013.

Q: will you be posting these slides (and webinar recording) to the EarthCube site? It’d be a great resource.
A: Yes, we plan to post the slides and recording, at our Zenodo.

Q: Can anyone define a user name space?
A: Yes, anyone who signs up for a GeoPass account and then logs in to SESAR² is able to define a 3-character/digit name space.

Q: Once I have set up a name space, can collaborators working on the same project use the same name space?
A: We have some examples where that happens now, they use a shared log-in username.

Q: Can an IGSN be assigned to a thin section?
A: Yes, and it has been done!

Q: 1) Can mineral separates be linked to rocks from which they were obtained by IGSN? 2) Would a sample powder have the same IGSN as the whole rocks from which it was derived?
A: Yes, they can be linked. And there would be two IGSNs, one for the powder and one for the rock (parent sample). Publications should use the parent IGSN.

Q: Will temporal searches be possible?
A: Search by geological age will be possible, currently there is not that information entered for all samples, so search results will be incomplete.

Q: We can keep our data private up until some point where we decide to make it public, right?
A: You can control the visibility and searchability of your sample metadata by setting sample metadata release dates. SESAR² strongly recommends that sample metadata become available immediately upon sample registration or within two years of registration.

Q: WIll it detect duplicate IGSN numbers automatically if we enter the number ourselves?
A: Yes, the system will check for existing IGSNs and will not allow a duplicate IGSN.

Q: If I had, say, stable isotope data associated with my samples or lithologic info, I’m assuming I would have to upload these data, connected to the IGSN, on some other site, right?
A: Yes, analytical data will go into databases for analytical data. It could technically be added, but that is not the main use of SESAR², which primarily is a sample registry that links to many other sources.

Q: Is lat/long, decimal degrees the only location format you’ll accept, or is UTM acceptable?
A: SESAR² now accepts UTM coordinates, which must be accompanied by UTM zone. SESAR²’s geospatial search is driven solely by latitude and longitude, so samples that do not have latitude and longitude will not be discoverable in a geospatial search of SESAR² regardless of whether UTM coordinates have been entered. There are a number of online tools available to convert UTM to latitude and longitude (WGS84 geodetic datum is expected in SESAR²).

However, SESAR²’s geospatial search is driven solely by latitude and longitude so if only the UTM coordinate system is used, the samples will not be discoverable in the geospatial search. There are a number of online tools available to convert UTM to WGS84.

Q: Do I have to register all my samples before using it in publications so that I can create that link.
A: Yes! It should show up in the registry before it is used in publications.

Q: IGSN serve as a database to keep digital information of samples, right?
A: Correct, it is a registry of samples, with associated metadata (description, files, links)

Q: How many samples are required for registration at IGSN?
A: You can start with just one sample! You can log in and look around without any samples.

Q: Does the IGSN also produce the unique QR code that we can use in our own systems with, and independant of, the IGSN database
A: Yes, the QR code resolves to the URL of the metadata profile.

Q: Would personal initials be good for a name space? Or institutional initials?
A: Depending on your specific case, either of those options would be fine.

Q: Can you search by rock formation name?
A: Not yet. There is a metadata field for Geological Unit, but it is not popularly used.

Q: If you pre-register more IGSNs than you end up collecting, what happens to the empty IGSNs?
A: You should contact us in this situation for a case by case evaluation! It is possible they can be used in the future.

Q: Will you be reaching out to non-Elsevier journals?
A: Yes, absolutely. We started with Elsevier because they had the capability to link to our database. We definitely plan to expand more broadly. If you are an editor, please promote the IGSN!

Q: Do you anticipate assigning IGSNs in the field or only in the lab?
A: Both the field and the lab are appropriate for assigning IGSNs.

Q: Can a sample ever be deleted from SESAR²?
A: It should not. Once an IGSN is issued, it should not go away. There is the functionality to request deletion of a sample (if it was a test, or a mistake), this is handled on a case-by-case basis.

Q: How do you physically attach the QR codes and SESAR² number to rock samples?
A: You could put the sample label on the bag. The IGSN itself is purposely short so that it will fit on a sample. From a participant: We’ve epoxyed our IGSN labels to our samples.

Q & A from the 2013-03-27 IGSN Webinar

Join our Introducing SESAR "2.0" Webinar

We’re thrilled to announce that SESAR “2.0” and our new website are officially live. This release is the biggest update to SESAR since its 2004 founding, with new and improved functionality and UI.

Our new guide provides more information on how to use SESAR and documents our updated vocabularies and metadata schema. 

If you want to get familiar and practice registering samples, please use our sandbox. These samples will not be officially registered and can be used as your personal scratch space.

As part of our revamp, all users are now subscribed to a user listserv. We will be sending periodic emails to our users with system updates and notifications. 

Additionally, we have two webinar sessions to showcase these upgrades:

To sign up for the webinar, please fill out this form. Once you do, we will send a calendar invite. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at info@geosamples.org.

Thank you,
SESAR Team

Introducing SESAR "2.0" and Webinars Dates

If you run into any issues or have feedback, please reach out to info@geosamples.org. Be sure to join one of our webinar sessions Introducing SESAR "2.0" on October 8th and 9th!

MySESAR is now live!

The Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS) that has been developed and maintained by NOAA’s NCEI, has been decommissioned and will no longer be accessible on the NCEI web site starting May 5, 2025. In order to ensure continued access and updates to the IMLGS, SESAR and NCEI have agreed that SESAR will take over stewardship of this resource. SESAR staff is working with NCEI and the marine and lacustrine repository community to ensure persistence of this valuable resource. 

SESAR is planning a phased approach to continuing the services of the IMLGS: 

Phase Ia (completed December 1, 2025): Provide access to the current content of the IMLGS. SESAR will create a user interface for searching the current IMLGS and displaying search results. The priority is to make the contents of the IMLGS accessible again as quickly as possible and minimize downtime after the May 5 shutdown of NCEI-based Interactive Map Tool.

Phase Ib (completed February 10, 2026): SESAR has assumed management of the IMLGS Curators Listserv, previously hosted by NCEI. This listserv is an unmoderated forum for discussion and announcements related to the Curators group and Index to Marine and Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS) database. To join the listserv, request to join here (log in to a Google email account first, or email info@geosamples.org to be manually added to the list): https://groups.google.com/a/geosamples.org/g/imlgs

Phase II (in progress, requires additional funding): Fully integrate the IMLGS services with SESAR. SESAR is starting to work with NCEI and contributing sample repositories to understand their needs and desires for a streamlined data ingest process and user needs for search. Based on these needs and desires, we will generate an implementation plan and try to identify sources of funding to perform the necessary technical developments.

Please note that much of the IMLGS data remains accessible also via GeoMapApp here.

We are grateful for the many notes of support we have received from the community reiterating the importance of the IMLGS resource and expressing gratitude to SESAR for helping to steward this resource in the future. We thank the community for your continued support and patience with this transition. 

If you have questions or comments, please reach out to us at info@geosamples.org.

sesar

New linking to the Index to Marine & Lacustrine Geological Samples (IMLGS)

Recent Posts