This Record provides a description of the development and use of the version of the AGSO Library catalogue accessible from AGSO's World Wide Web site. The Library's in-house catalogue of books and serials is part of the Datatrek Professional Series library management system. Although this system operates from a Novell network server, the lack of integration of AGSO's Novell networks and lack of access to them from the Unix system means that direct access to Datatrek system is only available in the Library itself. Also, the Datatrek system has no provision for access, either directly or indirectly, from the Internet. In the interests of making the Library catalogue more readily available to both AGSO's staff and AGSO's clients, a decision was made to develop a version of the Datatrek catalogue as an Oracle database, and that that version would be made available on the World Wide Web of the Internet with a forms-based search interface usable on any Web browser.

No abstract available

PIMS, or the Petroleum Information Management System, is a database that keeps track of 376 000 seismic survey tapes and 2 800 petroleum well logs housed at the National Archives facility, at Chester Hill (formerly Villawood), Sydney - the largest tape archive in the southern hemisphere. PIMS is managed by AGSO's Petroleum Resources Program, which was formerly part of the Bureau of Resource Sciences. The survey tapes and well logs are basic data from petroleum exploration. They are loged under the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act, and are publicly available as a stimulus to further exploration.

The `AGSO Catalog' is a directory or metadatabase* of AGSO's outputs that includes products, publications, datasets and resources. Built using AGSO's corporate Oracle database management system, the Catalog evolved from an earlier `Products Database' that provided a web query and ordering system for all products sold by AGSO's Sales Centre. This function continues, with web interfaces to all products in the Catalog. However, the Catalog also covers external articles, papers and other publications by AGSO staff, datasets that may be either sold or given away, and corporate resources, such as maps, images and GIS datasets, many of which were purchased from outside the organisation. AGSO's web site now includes a Catalog interface for articles and other publications by AGSO staff. The Catalog is designed to capture metadata* at the source ? the author, project manager, research group leader or AGSO Division. Any staff member with an Oracle logon can initiate a new entry in the Catalog via Oracle data entry forms on AGSO?s intranet. The Catalog also facilitates business processes associated with the production of datasets, publications, etc. Various checks and `sign-offs? have been included for quality assurance and to prevent unchecked metadata from appearing on AGSO?s external web site. More business rules will be added as the need arises.

The fruits of geoscientists' labours are consigned increasingy to computer files. Although the capacities of electronic media are expanding rapidly, the means of keeping track of all these files is lagging. Knowledge-based organisations like AGSO need the electronic equivalent of libraries to house this information, the analogue of library catalogues to allow us to find critical bits, and the equivalent of librarians to manage the metadata. Files worth keeping must be kept permanently online, referenced by a metadatabase, visible on the Web, accessible from around the world, and in compliance with changing hardware, software and data standards.

This report contains a data dictionary for the hydrogeology products released by the Great Artesian Basin Water Resource Assessment

No abstract available

An integrated package comprising geological, structural, geophysical, geochronological and geochemical data. The GIS encompasses the outcropping and covered portions of Palaeoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic rocks straddling the NSW-SA border (the Broken Hill, Euriowie, Olary, Mount Painter and Mount Babbage Inliers). The GIS features recent data collected by the Broken Hill Exploration Initiative.

This report provides detailed descriptions (metadata) of 45 Australian marine environmental datasets that have been generated and collated by the Marine Biodiversity Hub as part of Theme 3 - National Ecosystems Knowledge, Project 1 - Shelf and Canyon Ecosystems Functions and Processes. The report also includes a map for each dataset to illustrate coverage and general spatial structure. The datasets contain both marine environmental and biological variables from diverse data sources and include both new and updated information. Among them, the national bathymetry grid and derived products, seabed sediment grids, seabed exposure (GEOMACS) parameters, water quality data, the national canyon dataset and connectivity layers were produced by Geoscience Australia. Other environmental and biological datasets are the outputs of oceanographic models and collections of various governmental and research organisations. These datasets are important for the success of marine biodiversity research in Theme 3 Project 1 in that they describe key aspects of Australian marine physical, geochemical and biological environments. The physical and geochemical datasets not only characterise the static seabed features but also capture the temporal variation and three-dimensional interactions within marine ecosystems. The biological datasets represent a unique collection of fish and megafauna data available at the national scale. Together, these marine environmental datasets enhance our understanding of large-scale ecological processes driving marine biodiversity patterns. However, we should be aware of the uncertainties and potential errors exist in these datasets due to limitations of data collection and processing methods. Data quality issues of individual datasets have been documented in this report where possible.

We have completed a new Web interface that makes it easier for AGSO's clients to find and order products sold by the AGSO Sales Centre. The new system is on AGSO's Web site at http://www.agso.gov.au/databases/catalog /html. Alternatively, from AGSO's home page at http://www.agso.gov.au, click on the `Products' button and select `AGSO Products' from the pull-down menu of online databases. The new interface is similar to the `Products Database' it replaces, but is based on the `AGSO Catalog', a new metadata system designed to keep track of all of AGSO outputs - including products, publications, datasets and resources. The new interface will be followed shortly by a Web interface for finding publications, papers and articles by AGSO staff members.