Project Title: South Florida Information Access Bio/Geo Digital Library

Project Start Date: 10/1/2001 Project End Date: 9/30/2004

Web Sites: http://sofia.usgs.gov

Location (Subregions, Counties, Park or Refuge): All

Funding Source: USGS's Greater Everglades Science Initiative (PBS)

Principal Investigator(s): Roy Sonenshein

Project Personnel: Trudy Morris (contractor), Gail Clement (contractor), Tarla Toomer (student)

Supporting Organizations: Critical Ecosystems Studies Initiative, US Army Corps of Engineers, State of Florida

Associated / Linked Projects: other SOFIA projects

Overview & Objective(s): The digital library and related services will provide a comprehensive and coherent information system that facilitates the exchange, analysis and use of high-quality information resources across the diverse agencies, disciplines, and communities concerned with Everglades research, restoration and resource management. Project design combines advanced information management technologies, national/international standards and best practices, and the information technology expertise of the USGS. The resulting digital library will provide a coherent, widely available, and enduring online repository that documents the scientific knowledge and tools created through USGS-related studies in south Florida. It will also complement and interoperate with other federal agency information systems such as the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Clearinghouse (http://www.nbii.gov/index.html) maintained by the USGS Biological Resources Division; and the National Digital Library (http://memory.loc.gov) maintained by the Library of Congress. The digital library is also designed to work together with leading state-sponsored initiatives such as "Everglades Online" (http://everglades.fiu.edu/eol/), "Linking Florida's Natural Heritage" (http://susdl.fcla.edu/lfnh/), and the Florida Data Directory (http://als.dms.state.fl.us/~fdd/).

Status: Significant progress has been made in scanning and posting historical documents on the SOFIA website. These documents have all been listed in the Everglades Online website. There are currently over 600 documents available on the SOFIA website. Additional documents are being prepared, with an emphasis on USGS and other DOI agency documents not readily available through other sources. The draft of the SOFIA Thesaurus has been completed and is being reviewed by Gail Clement. A gazetteer is being developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers with assistance from the State of Florida and the USGS.

Recent & Planned Products: The "Everglades Online Thesaurus: A Vocabulary Standard for the South Florida Ecosystem" is planned for release in FY04.