Earth and Space Science Open Archive PosterOpen AccessYou are viewing the latest version by default [v1]Going beyond the spreadsheet - developing Best Practices in ‘long-tail’ environmental data curation and publishingAuthorsCorinnaGriesiDRenéeBrowniDMaryGastil-BuhlSarahElmendorfHapGarrittiDMaryMartinGregMaureriDAnNguyenJohnPorteriDTimothyWhiteakerSee all authors Corinna GriesiDCorresponding Author• Submitting AuthorUniversity of Wisconsin MadisoniDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9091-6543view email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressRenée BrowniDUniversity of New Mexico Main CampusiDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4986-7663view email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressMary Gastil-BuhlMoorea Coral Reef LTERview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressSarah ElmendorfUniversity of Colorado Boulderview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressHap GarrittiDWoods Hole Marine Biological LabiDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5912-0769view email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressMary MartinUniversity of New Hampshire Main Campusview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressGreg MaureriDNew Mexico State UniversityiDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3007-8058view email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressAn NguyenUniversity of Texas at Austinview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressJohn PorteriDUniversity of VirginiaiDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3118-5784view email addressThe email was not providedcopy email addressTimothy WhiteakerCRWRview email addressThe email was not providedcopy email address

We describe the process by which the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network standardised their metadata through the adoption of the Ecological Metadata Language (EML). We describe the strategies developed to improve motivation and to complement the information technology resources available at the LTER sites. EML implementation is presented as a mapping process that was accomplished per site in stages, with metadata quality ranging from 'discovery level' to rich-content level over time. As of publication, over 6000 rich-content standardised records have been published using EML, potentially enabling the goal of machine-mediated, metadata-driven data synthesis.