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The NOAA Central Library (NCL) has been collaborating with the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER), and two divisions of the National Occanographic Data Center (NODC) — the Marine Data Stewardship Division (MDSD) and the National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC) — to address the requirements for metadata usage, archiving, preserving, managing, and providing online access to digital videos and still images from OER oceanographic expeditions. The Video Data Management System (VDMS) was developed to create and manage the metadata information to provide online and off-line access to video and images obtained during signature (NOAA-sponsored) oceanographic expeditions. NOAA scientists can discover thousands of digital videos and still images, hundreds of digital video clips, highlight movies, and related documents and products via metadata included in NOAALINC, the NCL online catalog (http://www.lib.noaa.gov/). During the development of the VDMS project plan, which is part of a larger comprehensive OER Data Management Project, the VDMS team defined and established several 'best practices' to support OER video data management and metadata requirements. Metadata guidelines developed for digital video (DV12) and digital still images (DI12) help scientists and data managers in the field to create complete descriptive and technical metadata about their video and image data. Scientists, librarians and archivists then use this information to create the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), MARCXML or MARC21 metadata records. The VDMS team also developed a work-flow for creating and managing metadata information on digital video by defining the process for moving video data from ship to library to archive, including steps for creating archival backup copies and web-accessible video clips and highlights. Many types of metadata are required to ensure that digital video and still images can be interpreted and used by software that may be available on future computers and operating systems. Technical metadata about the encoding format, codices used, playback rates, etc., are critical for software to be able to correctly interpret and display the contents of the digital files. Descriptive metadata is necessary to provide context for the content being displayed and answers questions about when, where, why, and by whom the video and images were obtained. It is often easiest to acquire these types of descriptive and technical metadata from the principal investigator (PI) or data manager soon after each cruise. This paper discusses a process of mapping different metadata schemas, metadata cross-walking and exchange between the NOAA Central Library Network, NODC, and NCDDC data centers to provide comprehensive information on NOAA scientific videos and related products. The paper also explains the library's standard procedures on digital video conversion, preservation and archiving.

Since late 2002, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) has been collaborating with the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) and its three divisions, the NOAA Central Library (NCL), the Marine Data Stewardship Division (MDSD), and the National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC) to address the requirements for archiving, preserving, managing, and providing online access to digital videos and still images from OER oceanographic expeditions. The Video Data Management System (VDMS), which was developed to facilitate managing online information and access to video and images obtained during NOAA-sponsored oceanographic expeditions, now enables access to hundreds of digital video clips, highlight movies, still images and related documents and products from OER expeditions. Using discovery tools available via NOAALINC, the NCL online catalog (http://www.lib.noaa.gov/), NOAA scientists and other researchers can discover and download online video and still images to deep sea coral ecosystems areas. Upon special arrangement, the NCL can provide equipment and an appropriate environment for users to view, copy and/or download requested off-line scientific video data or view original expedition tapes from the NOAA Library Archives. Additional online information includes related cruise reports, educational lesson plans, original video and image annotation documents, digital maps and Web sites, and links to other oceanographic observation data. During the development of the VDMS project plan, which is a part of a larger comprehensive OER Data Management Project, the VDMS team defined and established several 'best practices' to support OER video data management requirements. Metadata guidelines for digital video (DV12) and digital still images (DI12) help scientists and data managers in the field to create complete descriptive metadata about their image data. Scientists, librarians and archivists then use this information to create MARC21, FGDC, or Dublin Core metadata records. The VDMS team also developed a work-flow for managing digital video by defining the process for moving video data from ship to library to archive, including steps for creating archival backup copies and web-accessible video clips and highlights. The VDMS presently manages off-line access to more than 1500 MiniDV and 500 DVCAM tapes, over 1500 DVDs, and online access to more than 300 digital video clips and highlights collected during NOAA ocean exploration cruises. Over 80% of all digital video and image data are from OER expeditions to various deep-sea coral areas. A growing collection of the digital data, including in situ physical and chemical ocean observations are archived in NCL and NODC. In situ data are accessible through the search and retrieval functions of the NODC Ocean Archive System (OAS) at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/Archive/Search/.

To address the increasing requirements for archiving, preserving and managing digital video, still images, and audio resources, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Ocean Exploration (OE) embarked on the Video Data Management System (VDMS) Pilot Project, in collaboration with the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC), and the NOAA Central Library (NCL). Since 2002, the OE Integrated Product Team (IPT) has been developing a standardized capability for archiving these disparate types of data and information. NCL staff led the development of the Video Data Management System (VDMS) Project Plan, which is a part of a larger comprehensive OE Data Management Project. The VDMS team was asked to define and establish 'best practices' to support OE video data management requirements. They developed metadata guidelines for digital video (DV12) and digital still images (DI12) to help scientists and data managers in the field create complete metadata about their data. These guidelines also facilitate creation of MARC21, FGDC, or Dublin Core standard metadata records. They proposed a work-flow for managing digital video by defining the process for moving video data from ship to library to archive, including steps for creating archival backup copies and web-accessible video clips and highlights. The VDMS Pilot Project presently manages offline access to more than 1500 MiniDV and 500 DVCAM tapes, over 1500 DVDs, and online access to more than 100 digital video clips and highlights collected during NOAA ocean exploration cruises. Currently, access to the NOAA cruise video highlights and related documents is provided through NOAALINC, the NCL online catalog at http://www.lib.noaa.gov. A growing collection of digital data obtained during OE cruises, including video, still images, and in situ ocean observations, are archived at NODC. These data are accessible through the search and retrieval functions of the NODC Ocean Archive System (OAS) at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/Archive/Search/. The OE VDMS Pilot Project has demonstrated its initial capability to acquire, document, manage, preserve and provide access to digital video and still image data. Five-year VDMS Project plans (2006-2010) include: Increasing access to multi-platform video images through the NOAA Libraries Online Catalog (NOAALINC) and the Online Computerized Library Center (OCLQ) WorldCat catalog. Developing a web-based portal from which diverse OE ocean data, including video, still image, and audio files will be accessible via text-driven searches or from map-driven searches using a digital atlas. Using the NODC Archive Management System as the central digital file management repository for video, still images, ocean observations, and related documentation. Expanding the scope of relevant video and image data to include similar data and information from other NOAA Line Offices and Program Offices

The NOAA Central Library (NCL) staff were integral to the formation of the Video Data Management System (VDMS) Plan for the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration (OE). The VDMS is part of the larger comprehensive OE Data Management Project. This plan addresses both digital video and digital image formats. In support the requirements to document, store, and provide access to video and image information the NCL initiated the OE Digital Video Pilot Project in 2002. The Pilot Project presently provides online access to more than 1000 MiniDV and 500 DVCAM tapes, over 1000 DVDs, and access to more than 100 digital video highlights clips online collected by NOAA cruises in ocean exploration. Metadata guidelines (DV12 and DI12) were developed to aid data managers and librarians in the creation of MARC21 standard metadata records. An inventory of the OE Video Collections is available online at: http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/OEDV/Inventory_Digital Video Data 200 2-2004_01_19_2005. doc. Examples included in the Pilot Project are: • Islands in the Stream 2002 Expedition: Exploring Underwater Oases collection, including 100 MiniDVs of ca. 100 hours of digital video footage and 101 digital photos. NCL provides online access to video highlights, video clips, annotations to the original video footage, digital images with annotations, and cruise reports. • Oil and Gas Cold Seeps in the Gulf of Mexico, 1992-1995 collection, including 30 DVDs of ca. 60 hours of annotated digital video footage. NCL provides online access to 29 digital video clips and cruise reports.

Existing programs within The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for data archiving and access do not address the increasing requirements for managing digital video, imagery, and audio resources. In particular, NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration (OE) has a need for an organized digital management system to handle increasing amounts of video, still imagery, and audio resources generated by OE programs and grants. The NOAA Central Library (NCL), in collaboration with NOAA's Office of OE, embarked on a pilot project in 2002 to explore the possibilities of providing such data for the exploration research community, as well as educators and the general public. The NCL plans to develop a standardized capability for public access to video, image, and audio information from NOAA's efforts in uncovering and documenting undersea habitats and marine species. Eventually, the goal is to set up a portal from which all OE video/image/audio will be accessible. This paper will discuss the progress of the pilot project during its first year, and present the goals for the next year. It will discuss the research, standardization process (metadata), and implementation phases. It will assess user needs and requirements, developed policies and procedures, and explored various options for a retrieval system for the video/image/audio. It will discuss many of the questions faced in the first phase of the project including: Would the library be the central repository for all of NOAA? How would the video/images/audio material be collected? How would it be accessed? How would it be archived? The ultimate goal of the project is to provide easy access to the rich and varied digital video, images and audio material generated by NOAA's Office of OE.