Advanced spectroscopy opens up many pathways to study the local electronic environment of materials, probing the electronic structure directly, the atomic environments and the bonding; all of which are key to the development of next-generation simulations for materials discovery. Despite this importance, the collation of spectroscopic data, both experimental and theoretical is still lacking. Kristin Persson is leading an effort to build a database of spectroscopic data: Local Spectroscopic Data Initiative (LSDI). This effort employs supercomputing resources to simulate x-ray absorption (XAS) and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. This database of simulated spectra can be used by spectroscopists to improve their ability to rapidly identify materials and thoroughly characterize materials, possibly on-the-fly using advanced machine learning. Finally, the group is building a dissemination vehicle to bring experimental spectroscopic data back to the database and enable a more holistic approach to materials engineering and characterization. Current, the Materials Project contains more than 500,000 computed XAS spectra that can be queried, browsed, and downloaded. Read DMR Newsletter here.