What is the MRIB?

The Marine Realms Information

Bank (MRIB) is a digital library designed

to classify, integrate, and facilitate access

to scientific information about the oceans

and the adjacent parts of the atmosphere

and solid Earth, as well as to the people,

techniques, and organizations involved in

marine science. By integrating information science and communication technology, the MRIB creates a new vision of

libraries and scientific publishing and

provides a dynamic environment for the

global sharing of digital information. The

MRIB, which is a joint effort of the U.S.

Geological Survey (USGS) and the

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

(WHOI), is available on the World Wide

Web at http://mrib.usgs.gov.

What is a Distributed Geolibrary?

The MRIB is a distributed geolibrary

as defined by the National Research

Council (1999). As such, the MRIB (1)

prioritizes the search and display of information by place (particular locations on

the Earth’s surface) and (2) links information existing in remote physical locations

by removing geographic and temporal

boundaries. In spite of this distributed

nature, the basic services of the MRIB

remain similar to those of a traditional

library. Any piece of relevant information

accessible online (text, pictures, charts,

maps, or binary data files) can be classified by specialists and placed on virtual

shelves designed to allow users to browse

through holdings with shared subjects,

locations, or other characteristics.

How does the MRIB work?

The conceptual design of the MRIB

is that of a system capable of classifying

and integrating existing information without altering its attributes or integrity. All

information pertaining to coastal and

marine environments is organized by the

following 13 criteria: location, geologic

time, physiographic feature, biota, discipline, research method, hot topics, project

title, agency name, author, class, format,

and audience. 

The collection of software constituting the MRIB grew out of the Woods

Hole Oceanographic Institution’s 4DGeoBrowser project (Lerner and Maffei,

2001), which is based on the electronic

index card (EIC). An EIC is the electronic

counterpart of the physical index card

used in library card catalogs. Any digital

information referenced in the MRIB is

assigned an EIC containing descriptive

metadata, including geospatial data (area

of study) and the document’s network

location (Uniform Resource Locator or

URL).

What does an MRIB user see?

The MRIB Web interface (fig. 1) is

designed to encourage browsing as well

as searching, thus preserving the strengths

of a traditional library catalog while taking advantage of the flexibility of digital

technology. Currently, the MRIB offers

three types of searches—by category, by

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

USGS Fact Sheet FS–064–03

July 2003

The Marine Realms Information Bank—

A Coastal and Marine Digital Library

Figure 1. The MRIB Web interface.
keyword, and by location. Users can

select categories from any depth within

the classification hierarchies, search the

metadata database for a keyword, or select

a region by choosing a predefined location name listed in a gazetteer or by clicking on a map. These operations can be

applied repeatedly, in any order, until the

selection is appropriately focused. After

each step, the MRIB displays maps and

tables containing links and descriptions of

the information resources matching the

selection criteria (figs. 2 and 3).

What is the importance of the MRIB?

The initial focus of the MRIB has

been on USGS coastal and marine geology information, but data from other scientific agencies, including WHOI, are also

being indexed. MRIB Version 1 was

released on January 2003. The significance of the MRIB project lies in the utility of the digital library itself and in the

implementation of the distributed geolibraries concept. Systems similar to the

MRIB can be used as unifying catalogs

for extensive or rapidly developing information bases where a centralized repository is impractical. The MRIB is a timely

endeavor that will aid in accessing scientific information and in understanding the

complicated issues involved in managing

natural resources and promoting public

health, safety, and the well-being of our

planet and its inhabitants.

References Cited

Lerner, S., and Maffei, A., 2001, 4DGeoBrowser—A Web-based data browser

and server for accessing and analyzing

multi-disciplinary data: Woods Hole

Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole,

MA, Technical Report WHOI-2001-13,

71 p.

National Research Council, 1999, Distributed

geolibraries—Spatial information

resources: National Academy Press,

Washington, DC, 136 p.

For additional information

Frances L. Lightsom

U.S. Geological Survey

Woods Hole Science Center

384 Woods Hole Road

Woods Hole, MA 02540-1598

E-mail: flightsom@usgs.gov

Telephone: 508-457-2242

Fax: 508-457-2310

Figure 3. MRIB Software Architecture. The MRIB query process begins with the user issuing a

search request on the Web browser. The Common Gateway Interface module parses this

request and passes it on to the search module. The search module queries the electronic index

card database for matching records; for geographical searches, the map interface module is

also invoked to handle latitude and longitude parameters. Once the matching records are

retrieved, the search module calls upon one of several templates chosen by the user (table,

map, or category view). Finally, the Web page of results is sent back to the user.

Figure 2. The MRIB Web interface is designed to encourage browsing as well as searching.