News

Support Dearly Departed Datasets

Our federal data are meeting an untimely end. Help track their final days.🪦

Our friends at EssentialData.US, Federation of American Scientists (FAS), and Public Environmental Data Partners (PEDP) have set up a campaign this Halloween season to recognize the Dearly Departed Datasets, or the federal government datasets that have been terminated or removed.

They want you to nominate the following:

🎃 datasets that have been removed from public access
🎃 datasets that remain available but further data collections have been terminated
🎃 data elements that were removed from a dataset that still exists
🎃 specialized data tools that provide easy access to the data

Read more on their nomination form.

Below are some examples of datasets that have met an untimely end 💀 or morphed into zombie 🧟 versions.

🪦 USDA Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS-FSS) — terminated
🪦 EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) — terminated
🪦 NOAA Billion-Dollar Disasters Database — terminated
🪦 BLS Mass Layoff Statistics - terminated
🕸️ FEMA Future Risk Index — taken down
🕸️ DHS Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD) Open — taken down
🕸️ CEQ Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) — taken down
🕸️ EPA Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJScreen) — taken down
🕸️ Community Resilience Estimates Equity Supplement (Census) - taken down
👻 OPM FedScope — race and ethnicity data removed
👻 BJS National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) — gender data removed
👻 BOP Inmate Statistics — transgender data removed

We know our DRP members are keeping an eye on data that has gone missing, so be sure to help them out! 🎃🛟

A group of open computers on a table with snacks, drinks, and other office supplies.

RDAP Hackathon and November Office Hours

Fall is in full swing– and as the holidays approach, we just want to remind you all how grateful we are for your participation and support! Don’t forget that you can receive a sticker as a small token of our appreciation – fill out this short Google Form and we’

Guest Post: Together Through Chaos: Reflections on Community-Driven Data Rescue

DRP co-founder and Steering Committee Member Mikala Narlock recently spoke at the Midwest Data Librarian Symposium. Below, she shares an overview of the presentation (slides available for review) and her own reflections. One thing the Midwest does exceptionally well is Fall: the leaves change slowly, and then all at once;

Data Rescue Projects receives support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to support data rescue efforts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Since launching in February 2025, the Data Rescue Project has grown substantially. At this point, the DRP has enabled the rescue of more than 1,000 datasets from US Federal websites, representing over 80 statistical programs and offices, all due entirely to the work of our more

Guest Post: The Library Innovation Lab Launches Data.gov Archive Search

This week's guest post is from the Harvard Law School Library Innovation Lab. As October draws to a closer, we are grateful to this team for their efforts to update Data.Gov Archive, which now includes a search interface to support the discoverability and usability of federal data.