The NGDC is responsible for managing geoscientifically valuable information and datasets. It is the NGDC policy to preserve this data which underpins the existing scientific record and make it accessible for future re-use to a wide range of end users.
The BGS Library and Archives are also the responsibility of the NGDC. The Library was founded in 1835 and has grown and developed into one of the world’s major earth science libraries. The Archives maintain public records dating back to the early pioneers of field geology.
The NGDC is also responsible for the Geomaterials Repository which is a UKRI national science facility and the largest collection of geoscience samples from the UK located at the BGS’s headquarters in Nottinghamshire. The hydrogeological materials collection, which includes core and borehole material, is housed at our Wallingford site in Oxfordshire. The Repository’s unique collections are used extensively by industry, in research and to support university teaching and hosts the UK’s largest core storage and examination facility. Its centrepiece is the Core Store.
As part of the NERC Environmental Data Service, the NGDC also includes a team dedicated to NERC Grants, to provide support to NERC-funded grant holders covering the entire research and data management lifecycle:
- Advice on data management planning (DMP) and preferred data formats
- Guidance on metadata creation and data citation (DOIs)
- Guidance on data transfers and ingestion
- Advice on relevant legislation (FOI, EIR, IPR) and data sharing
- Management of data embargo, confidentiality, and release of data
- Secure and long-term storage for data and materials
- Management of data access requests
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