Allocating Agents

The content on this page is no longer current and will be replaced soon.

An Allocating Agent (see also the definition of an Allocating Agent given in the statutes is an institution which allocates IGSN names on behalf of the IGSN registration agency of IGSN. An Allocating Agent may delegate technical functions and services to one or more sample repositories or data centres.

Roles and Responsibilites

• Register IGSN and operate registration services
• Apply for top-level namespaces from IGSN and assign sub-namespaces to its clients

• Provide OAI-PMH interfaces for metadata harvesting

• Follow best practices for IGSN allocation, syntax and metadata
• Ensure persistent access to the metadata record of the registered IGSN and ensure the persistence of the Allocating Agent’s sample catalogue. In future, Allocating Agents will be asked to prepare a contingency plan for the case that the Allocating Agent is going out of business.
• Ensure uniqueness of the allocated IGSN and make best effort at avoiding co-reference of IGSNs
• Participate in the IGSN General Assembly

A failure to comply with the roles and responsibilities may result in the termination of the membership.

Operating Allocating Agents

• System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR) http://www.geosamples.org
• CSIRO Mineral Resources http://www.csiro.au/en/Research/MRF
• MARUM Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences, Univ. Bremen http://www.marum.de
• German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ, Potsdam http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/en/section/centre-for-scientific-drilling/
• Geoscience Australia
• Curtin University, De Laeter Centre for Geoschemistry