ABSTRACT
Once electronic files are installed, an organization quickly finds they are reconciled to them and never return to paper systems; however, maintenance routines and new habits are required that may not be part of any employee's job description. A manager should assign the job of Data Librarian and allocate time for that person to document and maintain the files. The libraries of data can serve as a geographic information system (GIS). In a GIS, a well construction database would be considered as a data layer, as would the chemistry results database. The potential of GIS is great, but the process of building one is demanding. New skills must be learned and databases must be built, bought, or acquired. There is a wide variety of GIS software, and a survey comparing them was recently published by GIS World. GIS technology will affect an entire spectrum of professional disciplines in the future.
