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Tara M Bell

(She/her)

As a technical information specialist, I ensure that our information assets are handled responsibly and efficiently. I am responsible for managing the Great Lakes Science Center Library, along with developing and implementing records and data management strategies for the Center. 

Before I started working for the USGS, I worked in libraries, archives, and museums. I am interested in how the collections at these institutions intersect and how we can leverage metadata to create meaningful connections between them. I'm a member of multiple Bureau-wide working groups that focus on data management and am the former co-lead for the Data at Risk Working Group, which aimed to identify and preserve legacy data. 

Professional Experience

  • Technical Information Specialist, USGS Great Lakes Science Center, 2014 - present

Education and Certifications

  • University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
    M.S. in Information, with emphasis in Archives and Records Management

  • Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
    B.A. in Public History

  • University of South Florida, Online
    Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate

Affiliations and Memberships*

  • National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA), 2015 - present

Honors and Awards

  • USGS STAR Award (group) for helping to coordinate the African Women in Science event (2022)

Science and Products

Science pages related to this scientist

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USGS science for a changing world logo

Content Specifications to Enable USGS Transition to ISO Metadata Standard

USGS will soon transition to the international metadata standards known collectively as ISO 19115. The open-ended nature of ISO benefits with much greater flexibility and vocabulary to describe research products. However, that flexibility means few constraints that can guide authors and ensure standardized, robust documentation across the bureau. This project proposed that the USGS data community
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Community for Data Integration (CDI)
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Content Specifications to Enable USGS Transition to ISO Metadata Standard

USGS will soon transition to the international metadata standards known collectively as ISO 19115. The open-ended nature of ISO benefits with much greater flexibility and vocabulary to describe research products. However, that flexibility means few constraints that can guide authors and ensure standardized, robust documentation across the bureau. This project proposed that the USGS data community
Learn More
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Image of a glass slide and bathythermogram - examples of data types rescued.

USGS Data at Risk: Expanding Legacy Data Inventory and Preservation Strategies

As one of the largest and oldest science organizations in the world, USGS has produced more than a century of earth science data, much of which is currently unavailable to the greater scientific community due to inaccessible or obsolescent media, formats, and technology. Tapping this vast wealth of “dark data” requires 1) a complete inventory of legacy data and 2) methods and tools to effectively
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Core Science Systems Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Fort Collins Science Center, Great Lakes Science Center
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USGS Data at Risk: Expanding Legacy Data Inventory and Preservation Strategies

As one of the largest and oldest science organizations in the world, USGS has produced more than a century of earth science data, much of which is currently unavailable to the greater scientific community due to inaccessible or obsolescent media, formats, and technology. Tapping this vast wealth of “dark data” requires 1) a complete inventory of legacy data and 2) methods and tools to effectively
Learn More
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Image of the contents of a repeat photo stake folder.

Developing a USGS Legacy Data Inventory to Preserve and Release Historical USGS Data

Legacy data (n) - Information stored in an old or obsolete format or computer system that is, therefore, difficult to access or process. (Business Dictionary, 2016) For over 135 years, the U.S. Geological Survey has collected diverse information about the natural world and how it interacts with society. Much of this legacy information is one-of-a-kind and in danger of being lost forever through d
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Core Science Systems Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Fort Collins Science Center, Great Lakes Science Center
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Developing a USGS Legacy Data Inventory to Preserve and Release Historical USGS Data

Legacy data (n) - Information stored in an old or obsolete format or computer system that is, therefore, difficult to access or process. (Business Dictionary, 2016) For over 135 years, the U.S. Geological Survey has collected diverse information about the natural world and how it interacts with society. Much of this legacy information is one-of-a-kind and in danger of being lost forever through d
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Data releases by this scientist

Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) Satellite Telemetry and Observational Data, Western North America, 1993-1997

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Data at Risk (DaR) team partnered with the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center (FRESC) to preserve and release a subset of their golden eagle telemetry data. In the 1990's, researchers from what is now FRESC worked with Boise State University (BSU) and collected telemetry and ground observation data that documented the local and migratory movements and b
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Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Great Lakes Research Vessel Operations 1958-2018. (ver. 3.0, April 2019)

The Great Lakes Research Vessel Operations data release is taken from the Research Vessel Catch (RVCAT) database curated at the Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC). RVCAT has been used as the primary data collection tool aboard the GLSCs research vessel operations. The data set has been collected on various vessel operations on all the Great Lakes and select connecting waterways between the years
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Great Lakes Science Center

Central Mojave Desert Vegetation Mapping Project, California, 1997-1999: Plots Points and Photographs

The Mojave Plots Points data are 1,219 plot locations in the Central Mojave Desert where field data were recorded and photographs were taken from 1997-1999 to provide context for the classification of the Central Mojave Desert into various vegetation classes. The 1,219 plot locations in the plots points shapefile (plots_points.shp) are each assigned a unique identifier called the FinalPlotCode. T
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Core Science Systems Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Fort Collins Science Center, Great Lakes Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Communications and Publishing

River Channel Survey Data, Redwood Creek, California, 1953-2013

Dr. Richard Janda of the USGS began a channel monitoring program in Redwood Creek in northern coastal California in 1973. The USGS continued this work through 2013, when the Research Geologist, Dr. Mary Madej retired. This effort produced 40 years of channel change data in rivers that were disrupted by severe erosion following timber harvest of old-growth redwood forests, a portion of the program'
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Core Science Systems Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Fort Collins Science Center, Great Lakes Science Center

Magnetotelluric Data from the San Andreas Fault, Parkfield CA, 1990

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry Science Center (GGGSC) collaborated with the USGS Data at Risk (DaR) team to preserve and release a subset of magnetotelluric data from the San Andreas Fault in Parkfield, California. The San Andreas Fault data were collected by the Branch of Geophysics, a precursor to the now GGGSC, between 1989 and 1994. The magnetotelluric d
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Core Science Systems Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Fort Collins Science Center, Great Lakes Science Center

Migrating Bird Survey Data Along the San Pedro River and its Tributaries, Southeastern Arizona, 1989-1994

Data files in this data series represent migrating bird count and habitat information collected during 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1994 field seasons at 13 riparian sites along the San Pedro River and its tributaries in southeastern Arizona, USA. At each site observations were made at up to 20 points, separated by 100 m arrayed along the riparian zone. Observation periods started at 20 minutes after sun
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Fort Collins Science Center

USGS Southwest Repeat Photography Collection: Kanab Creek, southern UT and northern AZ, 1872-2010

The USGS Southwest Repeat Photography Collection (Collection), formerly named the Desert Laboratory Repeat Photography Collection, is now housed by the Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) in Flagstaff, Arizona. It contains images from the late 1800s to mid-2000s, and was assembled over decades by now retired USGS scientists Drs. Robert H. Webb and Raymond M. Turner. There are 80 camera poin
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Core Science Systems Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Fort Collins Science Center, Great Lakes Science Center

Bathythermograph Data, Lake Michigan, 1954

In 1954 researchers at the USGS Great Lakes Science Center conducted 11 research cruises on Lake Michigan during which 779 bathythermographs were cast to collect temperature profile data (temperature at depth). Bathythermographs of that era recorded water pressure and temperature data by mechanically etching them as a curve on a glass slide. Data was collected from the glass slide by projecting th
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Core Science Systems Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Fort Collins Science Center, Great Lakes Science Center

Multimedia related to this scientist

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Publications by this scientist

Community for Data Integration fiscal year 2017 funded project report

The U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration annually funds small projects focusing on data integration for interdisciplinary research, innovative data management, and demonstration of new technologies. This report provides a summary of the 11 projects funded in fiscal year 2017, outlining their goals, activities, and outputs.
Authors
Leslie Hsu, Kate E. Allstadt, Tara M. Bell, Erin E. Boydston, Richard A. Erickson, A. Lance Everette, Erika Lentz, Jeff Peters, Brian Reichert, Sarah Nagorsen, Jason T. Sherba, Richard P. Signell, Mark T. Wiltermuth, John A. Young
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Core Science Systems Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Science Synthesis, Analysis and Research Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI)

Software by this scientist

USGS ISO Content Specifications

A repository for USGS ISO metadata content specifications. Content specifications define documentation requirements for various USGS data and software products. These specs are used to guide authors in developing robust standardized metadata using the ISO 19115 suite of metadata standards. The repository is used for development, testing and implementation of content spec modules. It contains guida
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Science Synthesis, Analysis and Research Program, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Alaska Science Center

Software to Process and Preserve Legacy Magnetotelluric Data

The USGS Crustal Geophysics and Geochemistry Science Center (CGGSC) collaborated with the USGS Data at Risk (DaR) team to preserve and release a subset of magnetotelluric data from the San Andreas Fault in Parkfield, California. The San Andreas Fault data were collected by the Branch of Geophysics, a precursor to the now CGGSC, between 1989 and 1994. The magnetotelluric data selected for this pres
By
Core Science Systems Mission Area, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Fort Collins Science Center

News about this scientist

Tara Bell invited to Participate in Making USGS Data FAIR Workshop

Tara Bell invited to Participate in Making USGS Data FAIR Workshop

FAIR – Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable

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Data at Risk Team Releases Historic Vegetation Data from the Mojave Desert

Data at Risk Team Releases Historic Vegetation Data from the Mojave Desert

The USGS Data at Risk (DaR) project recently released ‘Central Mojave Desert Vegetation Mapping Project, California, 1997-1999’.

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USGS Bridging Generations with WWII Technology

USGS Bridging Generations with WWII Technology

On June 6, 1944, thousands of men rained down from the skies onto the battlegrounds of Normandy. After five grueling years of war that shook the globe...

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Science and Products

*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government