The NBII: Your Home for Biological Information on the Web

By Ron Sepic

Data and information about biological resources are critical to a wide range of scientific, educational, and government uses. The sources of this information can vary enormously, ranging from specimens gathered by some of the first explorers of the United States (many of these specimens still exist today in natural history museums) to environmental data collected daily from Earth-orbiting satellites. This information can be found in files, publications, and computers of government agencies and private organizations as well as universities, libraries, and museums around the Nation and the world.

Unfortunately, putting all this information together in a way that is useful can be difficult, precisely because it comes from such a wide variety of sources and was collected in different ways and according to different guidelines. Further, much useful information is available only on paper and not in a computerized format, making it very hard to find for all but those who already know about it. Finally, many of the individuals and agencies who could use this information don't know it exists; unwittingly, they devote substantial funds to information re-collection.

The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) <www.nbii.gov> was created to help remedy this situation. The NBII grew out of a need to provide a comprehensive framework that allows biological resources data and information to be readily accessed in a Web-based system and used by a variety of audiences. Typically, these audiences include anyone who manages, studies, produces, uses, or simply enjoys biological resources--scientists; planners; decision-makers in industry as well as federal, state, and local government agencies; international entities; teachers and students; and other private citizens.

Origins of the NBII can be traced to A Biological Survey for the Nation, a 1993 report produced by the National Research Council (NRC). The report recommended that the Department of the Interior oversee the development of a National Biotic Resource Information System. The system, the report recommended, should be a distributed federation of databases designed to make existing information more accessible. That system would become the NBII.

In October 1996, coordination of the NBII fell to the USGS when the bureau gained a new area of scientific expertise--biology. Management of the information side of USGS biological activities are based in the Biological Informatics Program, which now serves as the NBII National Program Office.

In 1998, suggestions on how to proceed with NBII development came from the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), a team of internationally renowned scientists that included a Nobel Prize winner. PCAST recommended that the federal government push forward to the "next generation NBII" or NBII-2. The panel recognized that NBII-2 could take advantage of newly emerging technologies to greatly enhance current NBII capabilities.

One of the key components of NBII-2 was a "node"-based structure. NBII nodes (focal points for providing the information and services envisioned in the report) are of three types:

• Regional - Have a geographic orientation. By taking a regional approach, local resource issues, data collectors, and owners are involved in the process.
• Thematic - Provide national coordination for a particular biological issue, such as bird conservation, supplying the support and infrastructure to help address the issue. Such issues often cut across multiple geographic areas.
• Infrastructure - Responsible for common standards, data interoperability, and tools, as well as content integration.

Today, development of the current mix of NBII nodes continues along with the initiation of new nodes in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. But while we take a measure of satisfaction in NBII successes, our main focus is on the future. We invite scientists from around the Nation and the world to join us in exploring new partnerships as well as new opportunities to develop tools and technologies that make the NBII even more effective for accessing and sharing biological resources data and information.