Archival Guidance for
Major River Basin and Principal Aquifer Team Reports

Additional steps for serving report archival data sets through the USGS Publications Warehouse:

Data files and metadata for USGS reports can accompany the report and be served from the USGS Publications Warehouse. The PA and MRB public Web sites will be linked to the Pubs Warehouse to serve each USGS report and associated data files.

First, complete Steps 1 – 7 (Steps toward archiving MRB and PA report data for internal use). Then complete the additional steps listed below.

1) Final Approval

Send report to Region for final approval and include report data archival files, as specified below, in the review packet. Follow up to address Approving Official’s comments.

How to include data archival files in the review packet:

Hard copy:  The review packet that is sent to the Approving Official should include a hard copy of 1) the archival file summary and 2) the metadata header sections for each data archival file.  Indicate that complete data archival files are available on the USGS ftp site (or on an enclosed CD) and provide the Approving Official with the link to that site.

Electronic copy:  Create a zip file that contains all electronic report data archival files (archival data sets and associated metadata) along with the archival summary file for distribution to the approving official.  Large archival data files should be posted on the USGS ftp site for the Approving Official to download or sent on a CD rather than as email attachments. 

2) On-line Version

Work with Publication staff to prepare the on-line version. Create the html index file and accessible PDF of the report with a link to data file(s) and metadata. Use examples from PA or MRB reports if possible.

Example 1: http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2005/5283 (click on appendix for data files)

Example 2: http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2006/5012 (Data need to be in non-proprietary format, rather than excel and need metadata)

Submit html index page and accessible PDF of the report, data files and metadata to the USGS Enterprise Publishing Network, Electronic Publications Specialist to get a persistent URL assigned to your report. They will submit to the USGS Publications Warehouse.  A link from the USGS Publications Warehouse to the report data on the public MRB or PA web pages can be provided by 1) including the URL to the MRB or PA public web page, as part of the report index page, and 2) a link description such as, “For more information on USGS NAWQA Principal Aquifer studies and associated data”.  

3) Adding Data after Approval:

Data sets can be linked to the report through the Publications Warehouse after report approval, by sending the data set and metadata to the approving official and submitting the updated form to the USGS Enterprise Publishing Network, Electronic Publications Specialist.

For more questions, please feel free to contact:

Jana Stewart, Data Archival Coordinator (jsstewar@usgs.gov) (608-821-3855)

Sharon Qi, Principal Aquifer Team Archival Reviewer (slqi@usgs.gov)

David Reutter, Major River Basin Team Archival Reviewer (dreutter@usgs.gov) (614-430-7732)

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