In climate science, databases play a crucial role in understanding the patterns and drivers of climate change across regions and climate events. However, maintaining high-quality, regularly updated databases is labor-intensive and demands significant human resources. In the SpeleoFAIR project, we improved the scalability and scope of paleoclimatic research by streamlining the curatorial workflow and enhancing the capabilities of SISAL, a community-curated database of secondary cave deposits, also known as speleothems. The geochemical data from speleothems provide some of the most valuable terrestrial archives for reconstructing past climate and environmental conditions. Found in karst regions across the globe, speleothems offer the most-precisely dated reconstructions of past hydroclimate and vegetation variations during times when temperatures and atmospheric CO₂ levels varied strongly and differed significantly from today. Speleothems are especially useful for identifying abrupt climate changes that occurred over just a few decades or centuries: information not available from the instrumental period but essential for improving the ability of Earth system models to simulate the dynamics of tipping points in Earth’s climate system. As part of SpeleoFAIR, we integrated SISAL into the Neotoma Paleoecology Database, a “database of databases.” This move significantly reduces the human effort needed to manage SISAL, while also allowing palaeoclimatologists and other researchers to access a broader range of related datasets in one place. Through this integration, SISAL becomes more visible, better connected to the wider palaeoclimate research community, and equipped with a new workflow that supports advanced analysis and long-term sustainability.