Indiana’s CARST landscape: more than just sinkholes in the integrated management of collections objects and digital assets

Abstract

The Indiana Geological and Water Survey (IGWS) is a research institute of Indiana University and a state agency whose roots originate with the first survey of earth science resources of the state of Indiana in 1837 by David Dale Owen, our first State Geologist. The IGWS is responsible for maintaining the state’s geological “cabinet,” or collections of physical samples, maps, and data that are increasingly born-digital. There are now more than 2 million individual items in the IGWS sample collections and digital holdings of both digitized and born-digital data from oil, gas, and water wells; historic photograph collections; springs and caves; hydrologic and atmospheric data; and much more. To better maintain these collections, the IGWS created CARST—the CollectiveAccess ResourceSpace Tandem—an environment that integrates both a collections management system and a digital asset management system. These free, open-source software platforms are combined with metadata schemas, controlled vocabularies, and persistent, globally unique identifiers to facilitate long-term archival and discoverability of these important assets. This environment also easily integrates with data aggregators to benefit regional and nationwide studies on the availability of critical minerals and rare earth elements, the quantity and quality of water resources, and potential threats from geologic hazards like earthquakes and landslides.