In response to the withdrawal of multiple public datasets and websites, the Data Science Institute and the University of Chicago Library have partnered to launch the UChicago Data Mirror website to protect access to at-risk datasets. The website will preserve backups of these resources within UChicago’s infrastructure and reflect exact copies onto a publicly accessible repository.

“We developed this project out of a need for ease of access to data,” explained Lisa Chinn, the UChicago Library’s Head of Research Data Services and a lead on the project. “We want to make sure that the UChicago community—and the public—have access to datasets that are vital to the research endeavor.”

As of its launch, UChicago Data Mirror hosts the entirety of publicly accessible geographic data from the National Park Service, which includes historical boundaries, and the Census Bureau’s TIGER/Line Files and Shapefiles, which can be linked to the Census Bureau’s demographic data. The team is already working to add other at-risk datasets that are of interest to University researchers, and they intend to continue adding datasets that fit the mission of the project.

The UChicago Data Mirror project is made possible by the UChicago Library and the Data Science Institute. “The University of Chicago Library is committed to openness, a core part of research transparency,” said University Librarian and Dean of the UChicago Library Torsten Reimer. “Preserving data and making duplicate copies available online keeps it safe and accessible.”

David Uminsky, Executive Director of the Data Science Institute, said, “The Data Mirror Project exemplifies our commitment to advancing open, reproducible research by making critical datasets more accessible to scholars and the public. I’m proud to partner with the University of Chicago Library to create a durable, transparent platform that supports discovery and lowers barriers to data-driven inquiry across disciplines.”

The team is led by Lisa Chinn and the DSI’s Data Science Clinic Director and Associate Senior Instructional Professor Nick Ross. Ross, along with Dylan Halpern, the Technical Lead for the Open Spatial Lab at the DSI, built the environment and structure and collected the TIGER data. The UChicago Library’s Head of Digitization Christina Miranda collected the National Park Service data with support from Lisa Chinn. The partnership leverages both the University Library’s deep expertise in preservation and curation of knowledge and the DSI’s technical capabilities and data management skills.

You can follow the UChicago Library and the DSI for updates as the project develops.