Purpose of this guide
This guide is a resource for those interested in accessing publicly available government digital resources, such as web pages and datasets, that have recently been archived by third parties during a rapidly changing landscape. The current situation is in flux and this guide will be updated as we identify additional resources.
Use the tabs above to find guidance on locating specific types of digital resources, or see below to learn about the various archiving initiatives currently underway.
USU Libraries is here to help you navigate these changes. Reach out to library.help@usu.edu for more information.
Data Archiving Initiatives
If you are looking for updates on the progress archiving efforts, forms to suggest URLs for archiving, or other opportunities to help, the organizations below are good places to start.
- Data Rescue ProjectThis is a coordinated effort among a group of data organizations including IASSIST, RDAP, and members of the Data Curation Network. Their "goal is to serve as a clearinghouse for data rescue-related efforts and data access points for public US governmental data that are currently at risk." Their Data Rescue Tracker provides a detailed progress report of where individual datasets are being archived.
- End of Term ArchiveThe End of Term Web Archive captures and saves U.S. Government websites at the end of presidential administrations, starting in 2008.
- Harvard Law Library Innovation LabThe Innovation Lab has created a data vault to download, sign as authentic, and make available copies of public government data that is most valuable to researchers, scholars, civil society and the public at large across every field. They have collected major portions of the datasets tracked by data.gov, federal Github repositories, and PubMed.
- Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI)The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) is a research collaborative and network of diverse professionals promoting evidence-based policy-making and public interest science that advances the Environmental Right to Know (ERTK). They have been archiving US federal environmental data.
- Public Environmental Data ProjectA volunteer coalition of several environmental, justice, and policy organizations, researchers across several universities, archivists, and students who rely on federal datasets and tools to support critical research, advocacy, policy, and litigation work.
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Related Guides
Note that most government publications were not affected by recent changes to Federal agency websites. Most can still be found using normal channels, including in printed format, such as in USU's Government Information Collection. See the following research guides for more information on access routes and search strategies.
Acknowledgements
Some content in this guide was adapted from the American University Library guide "Government Information Data Rescue" by Jessica Breen, Gwendolyn Reece, Olivia Ivey, and Sarah Gilchrist.
