Our museum is in the process of updating our collections management software. Among the many preferences, we'd like software that is compatible for uploading data to an aggregator website.
So, we're reviewing aggregator sites. I'm familiar with sites for biological specimens, like https://www.idigbio.org/, but wondering if there is an equivalent site for mineralogical specimens.
Thank you!

[cid:image001.jpg@01DAC637.B3EAC760]

Peggy Fisherkeller
Curator of Geology
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.orgmailto:pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.org
p: 317-232-7172
650 West Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
www.indianamuseum.orghttp://www.indianamuseum.org/

Hi Peggy,

It will depend to some extent on exactly what sort of data fields you have for your specimens. However, our collaborators and I make heavy use of two specific mineral databases that you might consider.

The first database is Bob Downs' RRUFF project, headquartered at University of Arizona (https://rruff.info/ima/). It lists all the currently IMA approved species along with crystallographic and physical data for representative specimens. It also includes a "Mineral evolution database" of geologically dated samples of specific minerals from specific localities.

The other database is Mindat, headquartered in the UK and run by Jolyon Ralph (https://www.mindat.org/). It also has a database of every IMA approved species, along with every known locality in the world where it is known to occur. It has photos, physical data about mineral species, structural diagrams, and locality listings. You can look up a mineral and see all its localities, and you also have the ability to look up a locality and see every species identified from that locality. We use this database for studies of mineral ecology (i.e., how are minerals distributed through space and time, in what ways do they tend to associate, network diagramming, etc.)

Either of these databases could potentially be useful places to upload sample data, and I'm sure that Bob or Jolyon would be happy to answer any questions about them. The museum community may be aware of additional sample-based databases that could be useful.

Best,
Dan Hummer

From: Fisherkeller, Peggy via MSA-talk msa-talk@minlists.org
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 12:11 PM
To: msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Mineral specimen aggregator sites

[EXTERNAL EMAIL ALERT]: Verify sender before opening links or attachments.
Our museum is in the process of updating our collections management software. Among the many preferences, we'd like software that is compatible for uploading data to an aggregator website.
So, we're reviewing aggregator sites. I'm familiar with sites for biological specimens, like https://www.idigbio.org/, but wondering if there is an equivalent site for mineralogical specimens.
Thank you!

[cid:image002.jpg@01DAC649.2CB71840]

Peggy Fisherkeller
Curator of Geology
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.orgmailto:pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.org
p: 317-232-7172
650 West Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
www.indianamuseum.orghttp://www.indianamuseum.org/

Hi Peggy,

We're in a similar situation here. There is a European project that has provided a pretty comprehensive set of data standards and a data portal (see below), but I'm not aware of additional efforts on this side of the pond. Hopefully someone else on the list can chime in with details of a project that I'm not aware of!

Petersen, Mareike, et al. "History and development of ABCDEFG: a data standard for geosciences." Fossil Record 21.1 (2018): 47-53.

Data portal: https://geocase.eu/

Chris

Chris Widga, PhD
Director, Earth and Mineral Sciences, Museum & Art Gallery
06 Deike Building
Penn State
University Park PA 16802
cxw5766@psu.edu

Associate Editor, Open Quaternaryhttp://www.openquaternary.com/
Associate Editor, Eastern Paleontologisthttps://www.eaglehill.us/programs/journals/epal/eastern-paleontologist.shtml
Data Steward, Neotoma Paleoecological Databasehttps://www.neotomadb.org/
Councilor, American Quaternary Associationhttp://amqua.org/

From: Fisherkeller, Peggy via MSA-talk msa-talk@minlists.org
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 1:10 PM
To: msa-talk@minlists.org msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Mineral specimen aggregator sites

Our museum is in the process of updating our collections management software. Among the many preferences, we’d like software that is compatible for uploading data to an aggregator website.

So, we’re reviewing aggregator sites. I’m familiar with sites for biological specimens, like https://www.idigbio.org/, but wondering if there is an equivalent site for mineralogical specimens.

Thank you!

[cid:image001.jpg@01DAC637.B3EAC760]

Peggy Fisherkeller

Curator of Geology

Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites

pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.orgmailto:pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.org

p: 317-232-7172

650 West Washington Street

Indianapolis, IN 46204

www.indianamuseum.orghttp://www.indianamuseum.org/

Hi Peggy,

Mindat is a fantastic resource of mineral information and has some images of specific specimens but currently does not support a searchable specimen database.
GBiF is also a fantastic site but does not support mineralogy (or meteorite and rock) specimen collection data although there is some support for paleontology specimen collections.

There is www.GeoCASe.eu which has a lovely interface, has some but limited mineral specific data richness but is currently is limited to largely European CETAF members.
I understand iSamples in USA is in the pipeline but am not familiar with it.

I co-chair the Mineralogy Extension for Darwin Core task group in TDWG which aims to produce a schema for mineral collections so that more data richness can be exported using IPT - the system that the biological sciences use to add data to GBiF etc Hopefully it will be up and running by about this time next year.

Cheers,
Rachel

From: Hummer, Daniel R via MSA-talk msa-talk@minlists.org
Sent: 24 June 2024 21:14
To: Fisherkeller, Peggy PFisherkeller@indianamuseum.org
Cc: msa-talk@minlists.org msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Re: Mineral specimen aggregator sites

Hi Peggy,

It will depend to some extent on exactly what sort of data fields you have for your specimens. However, our collaborators and I make heavy use of two specific mineral databases that you might consider.

The first database is Bob Downs’ RRUFF project, headquartered at University of Arizona (https://rruff.info/ima/https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2frruff.info%2fima%2f&c=E,1,I_S3zvl_QgGSGcBirrSaaD1jRwRdkAq4QUfJiNb7ZMhjy8BtodeCVka80E3x3DQFHkU41rw7haIrzJXWFaGHVNohEtTrQpKQ_FC2Bcelt4o7g4I,&typo=1). It lists all the currently IMA approved species along with crystallographic and physical data for representative specimens. It also includes a “Mineral evolution database” of geologically dated samples of specific minerals from specific localities.

The other database is Mindat, headquartered in the UK and run by Jolyon Ralph (https://www.mindat.org/https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.mindat.org%2f&c=E,1,RJOQkZPSwVf1CJ9TsgIR6biXbms6uNeVXgMdfFi96myckY5jZ_jfAzZtjYB8QQfQ0WSstjfF2bfjFUTGnDrH74pb_fXVKTd0VKC5z7FT2xWKZw,,&typo=1). It also has a database of every IMA approved species, along with every known locality in the world where it is known to occur. It has photos, physical data about mineral species, structural diagrams, and locality listings. You can look up a mineral and see all its localities, and you also have the ability to look up a locality and see every species identified from that locality. We use this database for studies of mineral ecology (i.e., how are minerals distributed through space and time, in what ways do they tend to associate, network diagramming, etc.)

Either of these databases could potentially be useful places to upload sample data, and I’m sure that Bob or Jolyon would be happy to answer any questions about them. The museum community may be aware of additional sample-based databases that could be useful.

Best,

Dan Hummer

From: Fisherkeller, Peggy via MSA-talk msa-talk@minlists.org
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 12:11 PM
To: msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Mineral specimen aggregator sites

[EXTERNAL EMAIL ALERT]: Verify sender before opening links or attachments.

Our museum is in the process of updating our collections management software. Among the many preferences, we’d like software that is compatible for uploading data to an aggregator website.

So, we’re reviewing aggregator sites. I’m familiar with sites for biological specimens, like https://www.idigbio.org/https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.idigbio.org%2f&c=E,1,WuvmzfBUrSpArmn8oPS8LV8xXqMQnW1WQi8O-RSx8j9xoORkeIimQquDOAO8j8bwpAMhxS8YCe8Pi7cD_SksXrhzrwYNuwgcZLF0zd8x&typo=1, but wondering if there is an equivalent site for mineralogical specimens.

Thank you!

[cid:image002.jpg@01DAC649.2CB71840]

Peggy Fisherkeller

Curator of Geology

Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites

pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.orgmailto:pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.org

p: 317-232-7172

650 West Washington Street

Indianapolis, IN 46204

www.indianamuseum.orghttps://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.indianamuseum.org%2f&c=E,1,t6p9HGzn3EEwhJrPtA2Z1N3L4wFgb_XqiQXeRQy5qx8zYelJCFvT3HO5FPS-DqqFPuUpJFaENLcIyzuN73VE8Qs2xFCbvCfWTpq0tQ-R7U7wo3R3AHw,&typo=1

F National Museums Scotland, Scottish Charity, No. SC 011130

This communication is intended for the addressee(s) only. If you are not the addressee please inform the sender and delete the email from your system. The statements and opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of National Museums Scotland. This message is subject to UK Data Protection legislation and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. No liability is accepted for any harm that may be caused to your systems or data by this message.

Although a bit specialized, there is also this database, which continues to grow, mostly from the efforts of Doug Crowe.

https://ugacollections.recollectcms.com/pages/allard

Paul Schroeder
Professor
University of Georgia
Department of Geology
210 Field Street
Athens, GA 30602-2501
U.S.A.

706-542-2652
https://zoom.us/j/7172726263
https://geology.uga.edu/directory/people/paul-schroeder

From: Alfredo Petrov via MSA-talk msa-talk@minlists.org
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2024 5:10 PM
To: Hummer, Daniel R daniel.hummer@siu.edu
Cc: Fisherkeller, Peggy PFisherkeller@indianamuseum.org; msa-talk@minlists.org msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Re: Mineral specimen aggregator sites

[EXTERNAL SENDER - PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY]

"The other database is Mindat, headquartered in the UK and run by Jolyon Ralph (https://www.mindat.org/). It also has a database of every IMA approved species, along with every known locality in the world where it is known to occur. It has photos, physical data about mineral species, structural diagrams, and locality listings. You can look up a mineral and see all its localities, and you also have the ability to look up a locality and see every species identified from that locality. We use this database for studies of mineral ecology (i.e., how are minerals distributed through space and time, in what ways do they tend to associate, network diagramming, etc.)"

Just a small correction: Mindat is no longer "headquartered in the UK". Mindat.org is currently owned by the Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, a New York registered not-for-profit educational institution, and Hudson plans to ensure that Mindat remains on line for a very long time.

Alfredo Petrov

On Tue, 25 Jun 2024 at 15:06, Hummer, Daniel R via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.orgmailto:msa-talk@minlists.org> wrote:

Hi Peggy,

It will depend to some extent on exactly what sort of data fields you have for your specimens. However, our collaborators and I make heavy use of two specific mineral databases that you might consider.

The first database is Bob Downs’ RRUFF project, headquartered at University of Arizona (https://rruff.info/ima/). It lists all the currently IMA approved species along with crystallographic and physical data for representative specimens. It also includes a “Mineral evolution database” of geologically dated samples of specific minerals from specific localities.

The other database is Mindat, headquartered in the UK and run by Jolyon Ralph (https://www.mindat.org/). It also has a database of every IMA approved species, along with every known locality in the world where it is known to occur. It has photos, physical data about mineral species, structural diagrams, and locality listings. You can look up a mineral and see all its localities, and you also have the ability to look up a locality and see every species identified from that locality. We use this database for studies of mineral ecology (i.e., how are minerals distributed through space and time, in what ways do they tend to associate, network diagramming, etc.)

Either of these databases could potentially be useful places to upload sample data, and I’m sure that Bob or Jolyon would be happy to answer any questions about them. The museum community may be aware of additional sample-based databases that could be useful.

Best,

Dan Hummer

From: Fisherkeller, Peggy via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.orgmailto:msa-talk@minlists.org>
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 12:11 PM
To: msa-talk@minlists.orgmailto:msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Mineral specimen aggregator sites

[EXTERNAL EMAIL ALERT]: Verify sender before opening links or attachments.

Our museum is in the process of updating our collections management software. Among the many preferences, we’d like software that is compatible for uploading data to an aggregator website.

So, we’re reviewing aggregator sites. I’m familiar with sites for biological specimens, like https://www.idigbio.org/, but wondering if there is an equivalent site for mineralogical specimens.

Thank you!

[cid:ii_190565cd2fd5b006a1]

Peggy Fisherkeller

Curator of Geology

Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites

pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.orgmailto:pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.org

p: 317-232-7172

650 West Washington Street

Indianapolis, IN 46204

www.indianamuseum.orghttp://www.indianamuseum.org/

MSA-talk mailing list -- msa-talk@minlists.orgmailto:msa-talk@minlists.org
To unsubscribe send an email to msa-talk-leave@minlists.orgmailto:msa-talk-leave@minlists.org

Thanks to all for the thoughtful responses.

Peggy Fisherkeller
Curator of Geology
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.orgmailto:pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.org
p: 317-232-7172

From: Fisherkeller, Peggy via MSA-talk msa-talk@minlists.org
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 1:11 PM
To: msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Mineral specimen aggregator sites

**** This is an EXTERNAL email. Exercise caution. DO NOT open attachments or click links from unknown senders or unexpected email. ****

Our museum is in the process of updating our collections management software. Among the many preferences, we'd like software that is compatible for uploading data to an aggregator website.
So, we're reviewing aggregator sites. I'm familiar with sites for biological specimens, like https://www.idigbio.org/https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=31323334-50bba2bf-31367a34-4544474f5631-68572e4b3ebf7ac2&q=1&e=46fee7a3-0abb-4f1d-b790-a8454b215c9d&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.idigbio.org%2F, but wondering if there is an equivalent site for mineralogical specimens.
Thank you!

[cid:image001.jpg@01DAC87A.F7AA0110]

Peggy Fisherkeller
Curator of Geology
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.orgmailto:pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.org
p: 317-232-7172
650 West Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
www.indianamuseum.orghttps://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=31323334-50bba2bf-31367a34-4544474f5631-8f6b342b72062b8e&q=1&e=46fee7a3-0abb-4f1d-b790-a8454b215c9d&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indianamuseum.org%2F

All,
It is a bit shocking with all the money dedicated to SESAR, EARTHCHEM, PetDB, etc., there is no such NSF sponsored repository for strictly mineralogical data.  Petrological mineralogical data can be included in EARTHCHEM, and mineral specimens can be documented/IDed in SESAR, but stand-alone mineralogical data ... ??
At AMNH we are working to get data associated with the mineral (and gem) collection accessible publicly.  However, this effort is going to take some time before this task is completed.  I realize this doesn't resolve creating something like MinDB, but it would get data only used in abstracts or documentation of a specimen into the public domain.
Cheers,

George E. Harlow, Curator emeritus                                      gharlow@amnh.orgmailto:gharlow@amnh.org
Dept. Earth and Planetary Sciences
American Museum of Natural History
200 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5102  U.S.A.
Phone (212)769-5378    FAX  (212)769-5533
WWW:  http://www.amnh.org/our-research/staff-directory/george-e.-harlow
http://research.amnh.org/eps/jade/

From: Fisherkeller, Peggy via MSA-talk msa-talk@minlists.org
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2024 10:16 AM
To: MSA-Talk msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Re: Mineral specimen aggregator sites

EXTERNAL SENDER

Thanks to all for the thoughtful responses.

Peggy Fisherkeller
Curator of Geology
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.orgmailto:pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.org
p: 317-232-7172

From: Fisherkeller, Peggy via MSA-talk <msa-talk@minlists.orgmailto:msa-talk@minlists.org>
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 1:11 PM
To: msa-talk@minlists.orgmailto:msa-talk@minlists.org
Subject: [MSA-talk] Mineral specimen aggregator sites

**** This is an EXTERNAL email. Exercise caution. DO NOT open attachments or click links from unknown senders or unexpected email. ****

Our museum is in the process of updating our collections management software. Among the many preferences, we'd like software that is compatible for uploading data to an aggregator website.
So, we're reviewing aggregator sites. I'm familiar with sites for biological specimens, like https://www.idigbio.org/https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=31323334-50bba2bf-31367a34-4544474f5631-68572e4b3ebf7ac2&q=1&e=46fee7a3-0abb-4f1d-b790-a8454b215c9d&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.idigbio.org%2F, but wondering if there is an equivalent site for mineralogical specimens.
Thank you!

[cid:image001.jpg@01DAC887.A5D809B0]

Peggy Fisherkeller
Curator of Geology
Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.orgmailto:pfisherkeller@indianamuseum.org
p: 317-232-7172
650 West Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
www.indianamuseum.orghttps://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=31323334-50bba2bf-31367a34-4544474f5631-8f6b342b72062b8e&q=1&e=46fee7a3-0abb-4f1d-b790-a8454b215c9d&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indianamuseum.org%2F