September 1998 www.nbii.gov Volume 1, Number 1

A distinguished panel of biologists

and information scientists has

recommended to the President that the

federal government significantly

strengthen its commitment to

developing the National Biological

Information Infrastructure (NBII) as a

means through which data and

information from many different

sources can be used to support an

improved understanding and

management of the nations biological

resources.

In the Executive Summary of its

report, Teaming with Life: Investing in

Science to Understand and Use

Americas Living Capital, the

Biodiversity and Ecosystems Panel of

the Presidents Committee of Advisors

on Science and Technology

recommended that The federal

government should push forward to

the next generation NBII. The panel

noted that this next generation NBII

would continue to build on the

network of biological data and

information that has been developed

by greatly enhancing the NBIIs

capacities to make it possible to

automatically integrate and synthesize

many different databases, to analyze

information in new ways, and to

answer questions and present results

that can be readily used by resource

managers, policy makers, and

educators.

To enable development of this new

NBII, the panel says the federal

government should invest a minimum

of $40 million per year for the next

In This Issue

What is the NBII? ........................ 2

How To Become an

NBII Partner ................................ 2

Partners in the Spotlight ............. 3

CHM Connection ........................ 3

ITIS Named Hammer

Award Winner ............................. 4

Upcoming Events ........................ 4

The Vocabulary Project ............... 5

Metadata Training Update .......... 6

Inside IABIN ................................ 6

Metadata Training Schedule ....... 7

Access Makes Headlines ........... 8

Teaming With Life: White House Views on the “Next Generation NBII”

five years. While the next generation

NBII is being constructed, direct

support to the NBII should increase at

least five-fold to promote work on

needed data exchange standards and to

help increase the information content

of the NBII in its current form. The

panel also emphasized that

development of the next generation

NBII is fundamentally important to

the accomplishment of the research,

management, and education

recommendations that form the

remainder of its report.

We welcome the encouraging

recommendations of the Presidents

Biodiversity and Ecosystems Panel

regarding the NBII, said Mark

Schaefer, Deputy Assistant Secretary

for Water

and Science

for the

Department

of the

Interior. The challenge of the future

is to build on the work weve done

with many partner agencies and

organizations to make it easier to find

and use biological information, and to

integrate it with data from the physical

and social sciences.

The complete Teaming with Life

report, which was distributed in June,

is also available at <http://

www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/

OSTP/Environment/html/

teamingcover.html>.

NBII Recognized by

Renew America

The NBII has received a Certificate

of Environmental Achievement from

Renew America. The program will

also be recognized in Renew

Americas 1998 Environmental

Success Index.

Each year, Renew America, a

national nonprofit organization,

conducts a nationwide search for

programs that provide innovative

solutions to todays tough

environmental challenges. Each

qualifying program has passed through

a three-stage review process: reference

checks and evaluations from

independent local organizations,

(continued on page 6)
2

What is the NBII?

The National Biological

Information Infrastructure can be

viewed from a variety of

perspectives.

It brings people and information

together through the use

of technology. It is the

biological component of

the Administrations

effort to develop a

National Information

Infrastructure. It is a

library of the nations

biological data and

information that helps

Ron Sepic, Access Editor

USGS-Biological Resources Division

302 National Center

Reston, VA 20192

Phone: 703/648-4218

Fax: 703/648-4224

E-mail: ron_sepic@usgs.gov

Be sure to check out Access on the Web at

<http://www.nbii.gov/news/>.

Please direct your general questions about

the NBII, including partnership opportunities,

to:

Anne Frondorf, Manager

NBII National Program Office

302 National Center

Reston, VA 20192

Phone: 703/648-4205

Fax: 703/648-4224

E-mail: nbii_program@nbii.gov

Visit the NBII Home Page at

<http://www.nbii.gov>.

Access is the newsletter of the National

Biological Information Infrastructure and is

published by the NBII National Program

Office.

Ron Sepic, Editor

Donna Foulke, Production Specialist

Contributors:

Barbara Bauldock

Gladys Cotter

Terry DErchia

Richard Fera

Anne Frondorf

Jennifer Gaines

Catherine Haecker

Gail Hodge

Richard Warner

Just send your comments, article ideas,

requests to be added to our mailing list

(as well as address corrections) to:

How To Become

an NBII Partner

If you are interested in exploring how

you might become an NBII partner, or if

you would simply like to learn more about

the program, just contact the NBII National

Program Office. If you have biological

information you would like to make

accessible to others, we can provide

guidance on the considerations and

requirements for documenting and serving

information as part of the NBII.

Please remember that while NBII

funding to directly assist individual projects

in such matters is limited, we can help you

identify other possible opportunities for

support and partnerships. We can also offer

you training or technical assistance in such

areas as:

* Metadata development, and

* The application of selected software

tools or techniques for serving,

accessing, retrieving, and applying

biological information.

The NBII is a work in progress. And

while we have come a long way in a short

period of time, there is still much work to

do. We invite you to join us in this exciting

undertaking. For more information, please

contact Anne Frondorf (see address at left).

The NBII is

being

developed in

cooperation

with a

variety of

partners . . .

The redesigned NBII Home Page

people solve problems  and many

of those problems are related to

managing biological resources.

 The NBII is being developed in

cooperation with a variety of

partners, including federal, state, and

local government agencies;

nongovernment institutions; and

private sector organizations in the

United States and around the world.

The NBII uses the Web as the

backbone of a distributed network to

make biological data and information

more accessible to resource managers

and planners, scientists, teachers, and

the general public. The U.S.

Geological Survey supports the NBII

National Program Office.

Finally, what is the NBII? We

invite you to Surf the wild side

(see page 5), visit us at <http://

www.nbii.gov>, and then see for

yourself!
3

Natural Heritage Programs and

Conservation Data Centres are wellknown throughout much of the

Western Hemisphere. Collectively,

they represent one of the largest

ongoing efforts to gather standardized

data and provide information

products about the plants, animals,

and ecosystems of conservation

interest.

In 1994, a coalition of more than

70 provincial, state, and national

Natural Heritage Programs and

Conservation Data Centres in the

Western Hemisphere established the

Association for Biodiversity

Information (ABI). The ABI is an

international organization dedicated to

fostering the success of Natural

Heritage Programs, Conservation

Data Centres, and similar institutions

worldwide. As a grassroots

organization, the ABI is governed by

a Board of Directors selected by the

member data centers from among

their own staff.

We work to achieve our mission

by:

 Helping to build the capacity of

local and national data centers to

collect and disseminate high

quality data and information

products related to the sustainable

use and conservation of biological

resources.

 Building collaboration among

our member data centers and with

other biodiversity data providers

and information users worldwide.

 Providing a neutral venue and

organizational structure for the

development, analysis, and

dissemination of multijurisdictional data sets and

information products dealing with

sustainable use and conservation

of biological resources.

In May 1998, the ABI entered into

a Cooperative Agreement with the

NBII National Program Office. We

are pleased to participate in the NBII

through this partnership, which is

designed to increase electronic access

to biodiversity information from the

ABI and its member programs.

Our partnership with the NBII is

being conducted in three phases:

 Development of the ABI Home

Page describing the Network of

Natural Heritage Programs and

Conservation Data Centres and

providing access to products of the

Network. The new ABI Web site

will be accessible in October,

providing access to reports from

the ABI Data Sharing Committee,

the ABI Data Standards

Committee, and links to Network

partners.

 Development of searchable Web

databases containing information

aggregated from the Network of

Natural Heritage Programs. The

first data set available will be

species conservation status

information (S-ranks in Heritage

jargon) from U.S. Natural Heritage

Programs. Future efforts will

provide access to distribution

information about species and

natural communities of

conservation interest.

 Demonstration of NBII

biological metadata standard

Increasing Electronic Access to Biodiversity Information

Partners in the Spotlight

“Partners in the Spotlight” is a regular Access column that highlights the activities of our NBII partners. We are pleased to

inaugurate this series with an article by Richard Warner, Executive Director of the Association for Biodiversity Information,

a Washington, D.C., based organization. If you would like to write an article about your organization, please e-mail Ron

Sepic, Access Editor, at ron_sepic@usgs.gov.

application by Natural Heritage

Programs. We are excited by the

opportunities for increased data

accessibility and usability that

can result by use of standard

metadata.

Were delighted that the ABIs

new Web site is being created in

cooperation with the NBII. The

expanding ABI-NBII partnership

will facilitate and simplify data

sharing between the Network of

Natural Heritage Programs and U.S.

federal agencies, and will greatly

increase the publics access to

important sources of biodiversity

information.

Global Biodiversity

Forum Supports

Clearing-House

Mechanism

The Clearing-House Mechanism

(CHM) <http://www.biodiv.org/

chm.html> is an international

initiative supporting the Convention

on Biological Diversity (1992).

The CHM is being designed to

promote and facilitate technical and

scientific cooperation among

countries. Its goal is to provide

global access to and exchange of

information on biological diversity

and its sustainable use.

The U.S. CHM node is expected

to contain information on national

biodiversity priorities and programs

(continued on back cover)

 CHM Connection
4

Fifth Annual Conference of the Wildlife Society, Buffalo, NY September 22–26

Society of Environmental Journalists Eighth

National Conference, Chattanooga, TN October 8–11

Land Trust Alliance National Land Trust Rally

‘98 Monona Terrace, Madison, WI October 17–20

American Society of Information Science Annual Meeting,

Pittsburgh, PA October 26–29

Sixteenth International CODATA Conference, New Delhi, India November 8–12

“Meta-Diversity — A Call to Action: Responding to the Grand

Challenge for Biodiversity Information Management Through

Metadata,” an international symposium presented by the NBII

in cooperation with the National Federation of Abstracting and

Information Services, Natural Bridge, VA November 9–12

Geographic Information Systems/Land Information Systems

Annual Conference, Fort Worth, TX November 10–12

Second Conference on Partnership Opportunities for

Federally-Associated Collections, San Diego, CA November 18–20

ITIS Named Hammer Award Winner

On April 21, in a special ceremony

held in Washington, D.C., six federal

agencies were co-recipients of Vice

President Gores Hammer Award for

governmental reinvention for their

work in bringing the Integrated

Taxonomic Information System

(ITIS) from concept to reality.

Interior Secretary Babbitt presided at

the ceremony.

ITIS is the first comprehensive,

standardized reference for the

scientific names of the flora and fauna

of North America and surrounding

oceans. The system, a vital NBII

component, is accessible at <http://

www.itis.usda.gov/itis>.

The importance of ITIS to the

NBII is fundamental. Taxonomy 

the science of describing, naming, and

classifying plants and animals 

provides the foundation for

understanding and integrating the

similarities and differences among the

worlds organisms, both living and

extinct. In short, scientific names of

organisms are the framework that

connects biological information. By

providing a common vocabulary of

species names, ITIS helps link all the

biological data in the NBII.

The Hammer Award is the Vice

Presidents special recognition for

teams who have made significant

contributions toward improving

government service to the American

people. The six federal agencies that

worked together to develop ITIS are

the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),

the Environmental Protection Agency,

the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration

(including the National Marine

Fisheries Service and the National

Oceanographic Data Center), the

Natural Resources Conservation

Service, the Agricultural Research

Service, and the Smithsonian

Institutions National Museum of

Natural History.

Each partnering agency has a

mission to inventory, monitor,

research, or manage biological

resources. This reality created a need

for a common taxonomic

vocabulary. Prior to the

development of ITIS, there was no

standardized authority that

provided the most accepted or

scientifically credible name for a

species as well as instantly

related this accepted name with

all its known scientific synonyms

and with the common or

vernacular names for the species.

Now the ITIS federal partners,

working with the best taxonomic

specialists around the world, are

continually working to ensure the

high scientific quality of the ITIS

database by reviewing and

updating existing data, and

adding new data.

ITIS is a grand new tool in the

arsenal of environmental research,

said Dennis B. Fenn, Chief Biologist

for the USGS. As such, it is a

tremendous addition to the data and

information available through the

NBII.

1998

Bruce Babbitt (left), Secretary, U.S. Department of

the Interior, accepts Hammer Award on behalf of the

ITIS team from Greg Woods, Deputy Director for the

Vice President's National Partnership for Reinventing

Government.

Upcoming Events of NBII Interest
5

A Few Words About Vocabularies

For readers who may not be completely familiar with the

term vocabulary, it refers to a compilation of specialized

terms that are tailored to a particular field of inquiry.

Typically, an indexer assigns these terms to a document or

data set to describe the resources content. The authorized

list of these terms is referred to as a controlled vocabulary or

thesaurus. Use of a vocabulary streamlines the searching

process and makes it easier to locate resources and

information that meet user needs.

For example, authors describing abnormalities in

amphibians in the Great Lakes could use the terms

deformities, defects, or malformations (among others).

By using the controlled term amphibian deformities, the

user can avoid searching for all these variations  and would

not miss references that match the research topic.

In the Internet-based world of

scientific resource discovery,

scientists, policy makers, resource

managers, and interested members

of the public often find themselves

overwhelmed by the amount and

diversity of the information

available. Initiatives like the NBII

enhance the communication and

reuse of scientific information by

bringing order to the chaos through

services, including access to key

sites, documents, and resources in

the area of biodiversity.

But as the resources made

available through the NBII grow, the

dilemma of locating the right

resource begins again. The inherent

problems stemming from the great

expansion of Internet resources are

compounded by the fact that many

resources are non-textual. These

maps, graphics, and other nontextual information sources require

some textual metadata record to help

the user determine their

applicability. Even existing text

resources use a variety of

terminology to describe the same

concept or object.

To provide better access to NBII

resources, including documents and

data sets, the NBII is developing a

vocabulary to aid researchers in

describing resources and to help

users locate those resources. This

broad-based vocabulary will provide

increased subject access to data sets,

Web sites, publications, and library

resources.

While many excellent biological

and environmental vocabularies

already exist, no single vocabulary

covers the breadth as well as the

specificity required for biodiversity

topics. Therefore, the NBII decided

to focus on bringing these

vocabularies together, rather than on

building a new vocabulary. The aim

is to link vocabularies or pieces of

vocabularies already being

maintained by other organizations.

The NBII will provide the browsing

and searching tools needed to use

these disparate vocabularies. It will

also provide the high-level subjects

from which the more specific

vocabularies will be linked.

In the cooperative spirit of the

NBII, the vocabulary is being built

through a collaborative effort with

the California Environmental

Resources Evaluation System

(CERES) and other state and federal

agencies, scientific organizations,

and scientific information publishers

and providers. The NBII is also

working at the international level.

Along with six other organizations

within the International Council for

Scientific and Technical Information

of the International Council of

Scientific Unions, the NBII is

developing the conceptual design

and high-level keyword groups that

will allow users to discover and

navigate the individual biological

vocabularies of the organizations.

At the local level, CERES is

spearheading an effort within

California to coordinate the

development of keyword lists for

use in metadata projects related to

the environment and natural

resources.

Over the next few months, this

effort will culminate in several pilot

projects. Products and services will

be added to the NBII throughout late

1998 and 1999. One of the first

products will be a registry of

existing vocabularies that could be

useful to others creating biological

and environmental vocabularies, or

to those creating metadata requiring

subject keywords.

"Surf the wild side" is a new NBII theme

appearing on buttons, mugs, and other NBII

identity pieces.

The Vocabulary Project
6

Advances in information

technology are providing the

scientific community with

opportunities to exchange and share

data as never before  and metadata

are helping to make this possible.

Metadata are data elements that

describe other data. Metadata, in

fact, are the linchpin of the NBII

Clearinghouse because they make it

possible for users to search, retrieve,

and integrate information from the

NBIIs vast network of biological

databases and information products.

To provide for the most effective

searching and retrieval of

information from the Clearinghouse,

its metadata must be created in

accordance with the proper

standards. The NBII National

Metadata Training Update

Metadata and the Need for Training

Program Office now offers metadata

training workshops to ensure metadata

creators are familiar with basic

concepts related to these standards.

The workshops provide an opportunity

to create metadata through hands-on

exercises, prepare metadata files to be

served on the Clearinghouse, and

retrieve metadata records from the

Clearinghouse.

NBII metadata training workshops

use the NBII Biological Metadata

Profile, which incorporates all

elements of the Federal Geographic

Data Committee (FGDC) Content

Standard for Digital Geospatial

Metadata and adds elements that

specifically describe biological data.

Training is provided in the use of

MetaMaker, a Windows application

information network in the

Americas.

In recent months, activities

moved forward to establish the

IABIN. The second meeting of

Inter-American experts concluded in

January 1998. The report, published

by the Organization of American

States, will be on the Internet soon.

Experts at the meeting discussed

model configurations for the IABIN

and exchanged views on joint

project ideas. Meeting participants

developed five Terms of References

designed to guide efforts to launch

the IABIN. The studies will examine

organizational models for the

IABIN, information exchange

issues, and pilot projects on alien

invasive species in the Americas.

 Inside IABIN

Progress Noted Toward Information Exchange in

the Americas

verification of program results by

participating nonprofit organizations

at the state level, and final review by

the National Awards Council for

Environmental Sustainability, a

coalition of sixty organizations in the

environment, government, and

business sectors, including the

National Audubon Society, Bank of

America, the Nature Conservancy,

AT&T, the National Geographic

Society, 3M, and the Smithsonian.

We are very pleased that the NBII

program has been selected by Renew

America and the National Awards

Council for this recognition,  said

Dennis B. Fenn, Chief Biologist for

the U.S. Geological Survey. The

primary objective of the NBII

program is to help us all take more

advantage of the wealth of

information on the biological

environment that does exist out there,

so we better use this information to

make sound environmental decisions.

Renew Americas Environmental

Success Index contains information on

over 1,600 outstanding environmental

programs across the nation. The

Index, which is available both in print

and on the Web <http://www.crest.org/

renew_america>, includes programs

under twenty-six categories. The NBII

is being honored in the

Telecommunications and New

Information Tools category.

According to Anna Slafer, Renew

America's Executive Director, "The

Environmental Success Index

provides businesses, local

governments, and civic and

environmental groups with practical

proven models they can replicate. By

recognizing the excellent work of

these innovative programs, we help

motivate the individuals involved to

continue their efforts to improve the

environmental quality of their

communities and share their

successes with others."

NBII Recognized by Renew America

(continued from page 1)

The Inter-American Biodiversity

Information Network (IABIN)

<http://www.nbii.gov/iabin> is an

intergovernmental initiative intended

to promote greater coordination

among Western Hemisphere

countries in the collection, sharing,

and use of environmental

information.

The proposal to develop the

IABIN was an element of the final

Hemispheric Plan of Action

adopted by the leaders of South,

Central, and North American nations

in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, in

December 1996 at the Summit on

Sustainable Development. National

networks, such as the United States,

will contribute to and benefit from

efforts to build this regional
7

to run MP, read the error file, and

use the output files (MP processes

metadata in preparation to being

served in a clearinghouse).

 Clearinghouse Use: Describes the

NBII Clearinghouse and the

National Spatial Data Infrastructure

Clearinghouse. Participants gain

insights on serving, locating, and

retrieving clearinghouse metadata

records.

 Metadata Development and

Consistency: Participants refine and

strengthen their newly acquired

skills. Case study approach

provides key concepts that help

ensure the quality of an

organizations metadata.

NBII metadata training workshops

are open to all federal, state, and local

agencies, museums, universities,

private organizations, and other

potential data sharers. The workshops

are conducted at locations across the

country, based on participant interests

and requirements. Session usually take

two days, but condensed workshops are

also possible.

The host site normally provides

local logistical assistance, including

confirming the training room and

computers, and assisting with

participant recruitment and

workshop registration. Typically,

participants are not charged for

attending the workshop or any

materials distributed during the

class.

Interested participants are

encouraged to contact the NBII

metadata training workshop

coordinator (see below) for

information about upcoming NBII

workshops in your area or

possibilities for tailoring a workshop

to your office or agency needs. For

more information, please contact:

Sharon Shin

NBII Metadata Training

 Workshop Coordinator

USGS Center for Biological

 Informatics

P.O. Box 25406 MS 302

Denver, CO 80225

Phone: 303/202-4230

Fax: 303/202-4219

E-mail: sshin@nbii.gov

designed to aid in the capture of

metadata information into a

standardized format. MetaMaker is

available at no cost through the NBII

<http://www.nbii.gov/metamaker/

metamaker.html>.

Typically, NBII metadata training

workshops cover:

 Metadata and Clearinghouse

Concepts: Provides basic

information about metadata and

clearinghouses, how they are used,

and their benefits. Also introduces

the NBII Biological Metadata

Profile and the FGDC Metadata

Standard.

 NBII/FGDC Metadata

Structure: Introduces the ten

sections of the NBII/FGDC

metadata standard; templates;

elements and hierarchical

structure; domain information; and

mandatory, mandatory if

applicable, and optional elements.

 MetaMaker Operation:

Familiarizes attendees with

MetaMaker software, including the

main menu and general

MetaMaker functions such as pick

lists, data entry, and navigation.

 NBII/FGDC Metadata Content:

Provides an in-depth look at each

section of the NBII/FGDC

metadata standard using sample

data sets and entering metadata

information into MetaMaker.

 CNS (Chew-N-Spit) Operation:

Covers processing metadata,

reading associated error files,

making corrections, and verifying

a clean metadata record (the CNS

metadata verification program

formats metadata record for

processing through Metadata

Parser [MP]).

 MP Operation: Describes how

NBII Metadata Training Schedule

NOTE: For the latest information regarding location and dates of metadata training classes,

just check the online edition of Access <http://www.nbii.gov/news/> or contact

the NBII Metadata Training Coordinator (see above).

National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette, LA September 23–24

Columbia River Research Laboratory, Cook River, WA October 20–21

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND November 3–4

Florida Caribbean Science Center, Gainesville, FL December 15–17

1998
8

Access Makes Headlines

Welcome to Access, the new publication of the National Biological

Information Infrastructure. We in the NBII National Program Office felt it

was time to develop a publication whose main goal is to keep NBII partners

and users better acquainted with the progress were making in increasing our

resources. . .and making sure everyone has access to them. To ensure readers

have access to our pages, this publication is being distributed in both print and

electronic formats.

Each issue of Access will be a combination of news, news features, and

regular columns. The regular columns cover topics in which we know readers

have an ongoing interest: partnerships (Partners in the Spotlight), metadata

training (Metadata Training Update and Metadata Training Calendar),

Biological Informatics News, the Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM

Connection), the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (Inside

IABIN), and a calendar of events (Upcoming Events of NBII Interest).

Finally, just as the NBII is an interactive system, this is an interactive

publication. The writers and editors are excited about Access, and we hope

our readers will be, too. So let us know how were doing and if you want to

write an article for us. Whether youre a partner, a prospective partner, a user,

or a leader in biological informatics, wed like to hear from you. You can see

the Access publication box on page 2 for contact information. With your help,

it will be obvious why nothing succeeds like Access.

as well as links to other data and

information of interest to the global

biodiversity community. Initial

plans for standards and search

mechanisms are consistent with the

approaches of the National

Biological Information

Infrastructure and the InterAmerican Biodiversity Information

Network. The U.S. CHM node will

also provide linkages to each of

these programs.

In May, NBII staff attended a

series of meetings in Bratislava,

Slovakia, that were convened to help

guide the development of the CHM.

The meetings included a three-day

Global Biodiversity Forum, where

representatives of biodiversity

initiatives worldwide described their

programs and discussed how they, as

a community, could collaborate to

further the objectives of the

international initiatives.

CHM Connection

(continued from page 3)

NBII National Program Office

U.S. Geological Survey, 302 National Center

Reston, VA 20192