Data entry

These guidelines were developed to help inexperienced catalogers better understand how to enter data in the cataloging spreadsheet.

Information that goes into the collections database should:

• Be specific to the specimen

• Be meaningful without any context beyond what’s included in the specimen record

• Make sense to the cataloger

When in doubt, ask the collections staff! Ask early, ask often.

Using the data entry spreadsheet

Mineral Sciences maintains a data capture spreadsheet that catalogers can use to create specimen records that can later be imported into EMu. The data entry spreadsheet can be modified to better suit the needs of a given project by adding new columns or deleting unneeded columns.

• Use recommended column names: This document and the Excel sheet include fields and definitions for many common types of data. You can add any of these columns to your spreadsheet. Please stick to the recommended column names if possible.

• Requesting a new column: If you encounter data that doesn’t fit into any of the existing columns, ask either the data manager or the appropriate collection manager where that data should go.

General guidelines

Required metadata

This is the absolute minimum information required for a specimen record in the rock and ore collection.

• Catalog number

• Accession number

• Collector’s field number

• IGSN (if exists)

• Collection name

• Storage location

• Specimen type

• Rock/mineral name

• Basic locality info (including place and feature names). Places names with dedicated fields in the collections database include:

  • Country

  • State/province/territory

  • District/county/shire

  • City/town

  • Mining district

  • Mine name

  • Volcano (see the [Global Volcanism Program] for volcano names)

  • Ocean

  • Sea/gulf

  • Bay/sound

  • Island grouping

  • Island name

• Specimen count

• Preparations, if any. Common preparation types include:

  • Grain mounts

  • Powders

  • Thick sections

  • Thin sections

Recommended metadata

Not all specimens will have all or even some this information, but be sure to include it if it exists.

• References mentioning the specimen

  • Include DOIs for each reference that has one. Otherwise include the full reference.

  • Use the reference tab to define citations as you would in a bibliography. This allows you to use shorthand citations in the catalog spreadsheet (like Hale et al., 2020) instead of writing out the full reference each time. If using citations, make sure the citation string is disinct.

• Geologic/stratigraphic unit (e.g., Wait River Formation or Honolulu Volcanic Series)

• Geologic setting/event (e.g. Grenville Orogeny or Rainbow Basin Syncline)

• A detailed locality description (e.g., From halfway up the ridge 60-m N of the intersection of Ridge Rd and Cedar Ave)

• A detailed sample description (e.g., Coarse garnets (2-5 mm diameter) with kelyphite rims in a matrix of plagioclase and clinopyroxene)

• Latitude/longitude (including the geodetic datum)

• Collection date/time (especially if sampling a recent eruption)

• Eruption date/time

Additional metadata

The information here may help users discover or use this specimen, but mostly can be reconstructed from other sources.

• Section/township/range: Add as its own column if required. Data should be formatted roughly like so: SW1/4 NW1/4 S13 T1S R20E. Some records with PLSS data will have multiple quarter sections, some will have one or none.

• Maps: Include published maps as references.

• Weight: Add as its own column if required. Include both the weight and unit (e.g., 60 g).

• Age: Add as its own column if required. Include the age, error, unit, and method (e.g., 60.1 ± 2.8 Ma based on multi-sample Sm-Nd isochron).

  • Do not include ages that are not based on a measurement of/including the current specimen (for example, stratigraphic ages)

  • Describing ages can get very complex

• Preparations: Each different preparation should have its own column. The value should be the number of that preparation that we have for the specimen. The generic spreadsheet includes Thin Sections and Grain Mounts, but you can add columns for powers, butts, etc. A hand sample is not a preparation.

• Notes: Use notes judiciously. Most information that has historically gone into notes has a better home elsewhere. Never mix specimen and locality information in the same note.

Some things to avoid

• DO NOT include information that you don’t understand. If something looks important but you don’t know what it means, ask the collections staff.

• DO NOT use abbreviations. Abbreviations are often ambiguous and it’s always clearer to spell out the full word. That said, here are two places where it is acceptable to use abbreviations:

  • OK to abbreviate if you’re quoting documentation directly (but use quotes!)

  • OK to abbreviate compass directions (N, S, E, W, NW, NE, NNW, etc.) in long-form descriptions but not in place names

• DO NOT include references that don’t mention the specific specimen

  • OK for certain older collections (especially those from the USGS) where the publication describes the entire collection but doesn’t name individual samples

• DO NOT identify a rock specimen using a list of minerals. The primary identification of a rock specimen should be a rock type!

• DO NOT convert latitudes/longitudes given as degrees-minutes- seconds to decimals. Careless conversions can give a false sense of the precision of the original measurement, and EMu makes these conversions automatically.

• DO NOT try to map old place names to their modern equivalents. This process is error-prone and can be addressed once the data is in the collections database. Use the verbatim information instead.

• DO NOT wedge data with no obvious home into the notes field

Guidelines for specific types of data

IGSN

The IGSN is a unique, persistent identifier used to unambiguously identify a sample. It is very important to include the IGSN for all samples that have one. Learn more about IGSNs at the [System for Earth Sample Registration].

Specimen count

• Each specimen tray contains one or more primary objects (typically one or more hand samples, but sometimes a bag or a vial) and may also contain preparations (distinct objects derived from the primary object, like thin sections or powders)

• The specimen count is the number of primary objects

• Preparations do not count toward the specimen count

• The count is never zero

• Here are some examples illustrating how to get the specimen count:

  • Tray with 3 large fragments = 3

  • Tray with one rock containing 4 distinct xenoliths = 1

  • Bag full of small fragments = 1

  • Vial of natural material (like sand or volcanic ash) = 1

    • But a vial of rock powder created in a shatterbox is a prep!

  • Tray with two large rock fragments, a thin section, and a vial of powder = 2

Classification

• Use a pipeline to delimit|multiple|values. If including multiple values, list rock/mineral names in order of significance.

• When adding classifications, provide the name exactly as given

  • Use the sample description field to include more information about the sample (texture, grain sizes, relative proportions of phases, etc.)

  • It is OK to fix obvious typos

• Rock/mineral vocabularies

  • Mineral names and definitions: Mindat

  • Rock names and definitions: BGS Rock Classification

• Pyroclastic classifications: IUGS Pyroclastic Classification

• Petrology specimens should almost always have a rock name as the first term. Major minerals are sometimes included in the rock name (e.g., Olivine-basalt). List minor minerals after the primary name using a pipeline as the delimiter.

  • Rock/mineral name = Olivine-basalt|Diopside|Titanite

• Some common rock types have their own, more complex classification needs. If you run into any of the following rock types, use the following column names to distinguish the different parts.

  • Fossils: Use column names Rock/mineral name and Fossil

    • Rock/mineral name = Sandstone, Fossil = Glossopteris

  • Pyroclastics: Use column names Rock/mineral name and Pyroclastic Classification

    • Rock/mineral name = Andesite, Pyroclastic Classification = Tuff

    • Rock/mineral name = Rhyolite, Pyroclastic Classification = Scoria

  • Veins: Use column names Vein and Host Rock

    • Vein = Andesite, Host Rock = Granite

  • Xenoliths: Use column names Xenolith and Host Rock

    • Xenolith = Clinopyroxenite|Dunite, Host Rock = Basalt

Collection locality

• When adding place and feature names, provide them exactly as given. Use the locality description field to include more specific information

• Include as much detail about the locality as possible, even if you’re also including coordinates. Textual information may be of historical interest and can be used to verify and refine coordinates.

• If including latitude and longitude, you should also include the geodetic datum. A geodetic datum is typically a short alphanumeric code. The most common datums are WGS 84 and NAD 83.

• Georeferencing: It is sometimes possible to estimate latitude and longitude based on the locality description using resources like GEOLocate and GeoNames. This process is called georeferencing and is an important tool for making natural history collections easier to find. When georeferencing a sample, it is extremely important to include a detailed description about how the coordinates were determined, as well as an estimated error radius (which can be quite large if the original description is inexact). This allows future users of the data to (1) distinguish between coordinates provided by the collector and those extrapolated later and (2) understand that the provided coordinates are not exact.