Thanks, @abentley. I have noticed a few mentions on threads of the IPT (GBIF’s publishing tool) and the associated dataset metadata which is an extension of the Ecological Metadata Language (EML) to bring in elements of the Natural Collections Descriptions standard from that time.
Given the existence of this operational infrastructure today, I wonder if we should consider exploring a revision of the EML profile in use by GBIF and others, along with promotion of metadata-only resource sharing as @dhobern described in this thread.