Creating a modern database from archive material - The Norman Holme archive: Interpretation of marine field research notebooks in the historical context of the MBA, 1958-83

This document provides details of the transfer of the Norman Holme archive data held in the National Marine Biological Library onto a modern database, specifically Marine Recorder. A key part in the creation of the database was the retrieval of a large amount of information recorded in field notebooks and on loosely-bound sheets of paper. As this work involved amending, interpreting and updating the available information, it was felt that an accurate record of this process should exist to allow scientists of the future to be able to clearly link the modern database to the archive material. This document also provides details of external information sources that were used to enhance and qualify the historical interpretation, such as estimating volumes and species abundances.

The Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) data management experience

As the UK's national marine data centre, a key responsibility of the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is to provide data management support for the scientific activities of complex multi-disciplinary long-term research programmes. Since the initial cruise in 1995, the NERC funded Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) project has undertaken 18 north–south transects of the Atlantic Ocean. As the project has evolved there has been a steady growth in the number of participants, the volume of data, its complexity and the demand for data. BODC became involved in AMT in 2002 at the beginning of phase II of this programme and since then has provided continuous support to the AMT and the wider scientific community through the rescue, quality control, processing and access to the data. The data management is carried out by a team of specialists using a sophisticated infrastructure and hardware to manage, integrate and serve physical, biological and chemical data. Here, we discuss the approach adopted, techniques applied and some guiding principles for management of large multi-disciplinary programmes.