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Federal Data Backup

Locate and preserve the federal data you need.

Overview

The United States (US) federal government collects, aggregates, and disseminates a large volume of information and data. This content is used by researchers, policymakers, and many others for various purposes.

Protecting access to US federal government data between and during presidential administrations is important. Data can potentially disappear because of government shutdowns, broken links, and policy shifts.

This checklist provides steps you can take to ensure the government data you use in your research remains accessible to you and others.

Identify the data you are working with

  • Identify and document the US federal government-produced, hosted, or maintained data you are using and that you want to safeguard.
    • Consider if you are using a model or data source that is based on US federal government-produced data.
    • It may be useful to make a table as you document how you accessed the data. Include the dataset title, URL, which specific agency and program produced it, the date you accessed it, and any additional access method information. 
  • Document what the dataset contains and what data you are using.

Confirm data availability

  • Check if the data has already been deposited in a non-governmental data repository. If the data is already preserved in a reliable place, making a backup of the data may not be necessary. Places to check:
    • Non-interactive datasets hosted on government websites may already be backed up in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, which captures webpages.
    • Some large data products are duplicated by non-profits or research projects. You should check any that are common for your community.
    • The Data Rescue 2025 initiative was recently started by a coalition of RDAP, Data Curation Network, IASSIST. This effort is open to all those who are interested in helping. A Google Doc with more information about ongoing data preservation efforts is available here.
    • Several backups of the Center for Disease Control have been created and can be accessed using the following sources:

Making backups

  • Back up governmental webpages and non-interactive datasets that are hosted on them in the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, or in projects such as the End of Term Archive. 
  • For code that is in a version control system and on the web, use the Software Heritage project to back it up.
  • If the data are not complex, very large (>1TB), or restricted you can make a local copy. For the data to be useful to you, your team, or your community, it’s important to include as much information on the data as possible, to make it findable and reusable in the future. For any data you copy, include:
    • Actual, complete title of dataset
    • Agency name that produced the data
    • Program or office name
    • Website urls, including both the data.gov URL if applicable and the URL where the data are hosted
    • Date downloaded
    • Method of access (may have been captured under first part)
    • File names for data downloaded
    • Identifiers associated with the dataset, e.g.,
      • DOI
      • If you are using data.gov, open the Data.json Metadata and look for the “identifier” value
      • Any other thing that looks like an identifier and might help you identify the data in the future
  • Note the license and any access and sharing restrictions. Do not share restricted data or data containing PII
  • Additionally, save a current copy of the federal webpage that points to the raw data in the Internet Archive.
  • Additional things to document:
    • Coverage dates
    • Size
    • Format
    • Version
    • Description
    • GeoLocation/Spatial coverage
    • Related Items
    • Checksum
  • Consider putting a copy of the raw data that you just backed up in a data repository. For information about archiving data that you created, please get in touch with the Lehigh Preserve Institutional Repository team at preserve@lehigh.edu or 610-758-5337.
  • For time-sensitive, larger, or interactive projects with field-wide importance you may wish to consult with LTS colleagues about how your field should preserve this data. 

This library guide is based on MIT Libraries' Checklist for USA Federal Data Backups.

Checklist for USA Federal Data Backups by Data Management Services. Copyright © 2024-12-05 MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License except where otherwise noted. [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/]. Access at https://libraries.mit.edu/data-management/store/backups/checklist-usa/