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Worried about your research data? WHOAS is here to help!

February 11, 2025

You may have seen news about data being removed from various government websites, including NIH, CDC, and NOAA-sponsored sites as well as individual datasets from data.gov and other large aggregators. While this is indeed alarming, many data professionals in the wider research community were already working on creating backups and mirrors of government-hosted data. Those efforts are continuing apace. If you’d like to know more, please reach out to the library at dla@whoi.edu

You may have data that is ready to be deposited and about which you now have concerns. The Data Library & Archives (DLA) is here to help! We have a team of experts to support you, and we can help you with creating the additional documentation necessary as well as preparing your items for deposit.

WHOAS, which is the Woods Hole Open Access Server, remains committed to preserving the data deposited there according to the stewardship guidelines of our CoreTrustSeal Status, most importantly to the long-term preservation of your data along with the ability of others to access it. WHOAS is a service of the MBLWHOI Library, and the DLA manages the infrastructure and provides support for using this service. Please reach out to the library if you have any questions.

You have probably heard of the FAIR data principles for sharing research data: you want to make it Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. While these terms are very helpful for framing our library services, I will offer a quick alternative FAIR framework to help you get your data deposits ready:

  1. Format – If possible, use an open-source non-proprietary format for your data. While this is often impossible because of instrumentation, if you can make a lossless conversion to an open format, this will help more folks to be able to reuse your data.
  2. ADA Accessibility – To make your data useful, you want to make sure it’s described. Provide a basic codebook or data dictionary, ideally in a machine-readable format that is accessible to screen-reading technology. For images and videos, provide alt-text descriptions where possible.
  3. Intellectual property/usage rights – How can people reuse your data? Are there any restrictions or requirements for use? If you want to apply a Creative Commons or other license, this is where you should specify that.
  4. Repository of record – WHOAS! But it could be anywhere that meets the CoreTrustSeal guidelines and can provide a guarantee for your data. We realize this is an evolving question in the current environment, and we encourage you to reach out for an individualized consultation.

Data is a critical asset for our community, and the team of librarians at the DLA is committed to keeping our community’s data securely preserved and readily accessible. We are here to help.

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