Safeguarding Access to Research Data
Data drives decisions, but what happens when data are lost? Explore how the loss of vital datasets affects public services, public trust, and policy-making. Learn about the active efforts working to preserve essential data.
We need your help preserving data that is being removed from various sites. GW research and educational activities depend on many of these datasets. We have posted issues that require technical and non-technical skills, so please help if you can. Refer to our Contributor Guide to learn more about how you can get involved.
Examples of valued contributions include:
- Scraping & downloading data
- Developing & automating scrapers
- Cleaning & organizing datasets
- Documentation and metadata management
- Identifying datasets that are at risk of being removed
- Census Data - Representation and resource allocation
- Health Data - Care, prevention, and pandemic response
- Economic Data - Budgeting and economic decisions
- Environmental Data - Climate and disaster response
| Public Services | Public Trust | Policy Making |
|---|---|---|
| Without accurate census data, health records, or disaster data, critical services like healthcare, emergency response, and resource distribution are delayed or misdirected. | Data loss leads to diminished trust in government transparency. People rely on accessible, accurate data to hold public officials accountable. | Decisions based on inaccurate or outdated data can lead to poorly planned policies, such as mismanaged budgets, unequal healthcare distribution, or ineffective disaster relief. |
Learn more about the ongoing efforts to preserve research data
A collaboration between Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library, Information Technology, Libraries and Academic Innovation, and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.
Our Mission
| Preserve & Provide Access to Data | GW Researcher Needs |
|---|---|
| Learn more in our guide | Share your input in our survey |
- Data Rescue Project – Coordinating efforts to rescue, curate, and provide long-term access to U.S. government data.
- End of Term Archive – Preserving U.S. government websites during administration transitions.
- Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) – Advocating for evidence-based policy and environmental data transparency.
- ICPSR – A global leader in social science data access, curation, and training.
- Policy Commons Open Collection – Safeguarding and providing free access to at-risk government documents.