Data Librarian
Senior Research Data Management Librarian
Find Data - Research Data Services
- Find Data - Research Data ServicesOur main site lists data organized by topic. This is a listing of our core collections, either publicly available or licensed through UVA Library.
Topical Data Guides at other Libraries
Rather than recreate the wheel, this section points to other libraries that offer good research guides on finding data by topic. Note that some directories link to public datasets, and others will point to datasets licensed at other libraries. UVA Library may have access to the same licensed datasets. Questions? Contact the Data Librarian (contact info on this page).
Generally Useful Sites for Data and Statistics
These sites include microdata on a wide variety of topics. Time and geographic coverage varies widely by dataset.
- ICPSR This link opens in a new windowThe Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) provides a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction. Users may view documentation, download raw data, and search a bibliography of data-related literature. (You must create a personal ICPSR account with your virginia.edu email address in order to download data.)
These sites offer statistics on a wide variety of topics. The time periods vary, but are mostly late 20th century to present. Geographic coverage and geographic units all vary.
- Statista This link opens in a new windowStatista.com consolidates statistical data on over 80,000 topics from more than 22,500 sources.
- Sage Data This link opens in a new windowSage Data repository contains over 18.9 billion datapoints from over 400 databases sourced from 70 public and private organizations. The datasets contained in Sage Data are structured and homogenized to permit correlation of multiple, diverse indicators. The Sage Data repository continues to grow regularly with the addition of new datasets drawn from public and private sources.
- Our World in DataNice resource for finding international data on all kinds of policy-related topics. Note that you can download the data as a CSV file. Check out the Source tab for information about the data file and the original source of the data. Because they use data from third parties, you might want to check out how to cite OWiD sources correctly.
- PolicyMap This link opens in a new windowPolicyMap is an online data and mapping tool that enables researchers to access data about communities and markets across the United States. Major topics are: Demographics, Incomes & Spending, Housing, Lending, Quality of Life, Economy, Education, Health, Federal Guidelines, Analytics (e.g., market value). There is also the option to upload your own data to map within their system.
- Social Explorer This link opens in a new windowThis online resource provides quick and easy access to current and historical census data. Users can create custom data reports at many geographic levels and download data in a variety of file formats for use with statistical software. Includes: ACS, Decennial Census, Population Estimates (county level, since 2010), Business Patterns, Environmental Summaries, Religion, Crime, Health, Cancer, and some international survey data.
- Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new windowThe Statistical Abstract of the United States provides comprehensive summary of statistics on these major topics: Population, Health, Education, Crime, Environment, Government, Human Services, Labor Force, Income, Prices, Business, Science, Agriculture, Energy, Construction, Manufacturing, Trade, Transportation, Information and Communication, Finance, and Arts. The source notes can be used to find more detailed tables and machine-readable datasets. Online from 2013-present through ProQuest (above link), 1886-2013 online or in print.
Generally Useful Books
The Reference Guide to Data Sources by ISBN: 9780838912270Publication Date: 2014-06-01"This concise sourcebook takes the guesswork out of locating the best sources of data, a process more important than ever as the data landscape grows incresingly cluttered. Much of the most frequently used data can be found free online, and this book shows readers how to look for it with the assistance of user-friendly tools. This thoroughly annotated guide will be a boon to library staff at public libraries, high school libraries, academic libraries, and other research institutions. It offers concentrated coverage of data sources for frequently researched subjects such as agriculture, the earth sciences, econiomics, energy, political science, and transportation; the basics of data reference along with an overview of the most useful sources; Statistical datasets, and how to understand and make use of them; and much more."
Researching Developing Countries by ISBN: 9780081001561Publication Date: 2015-11-25"Why are some countries rich while others are poor? Why are some well governed while others experience frequent conflict? And how do you measure a country's true success anyways? Social scientists have attempted to answer these types of questions for decades, and have increasingly turned to data for this task. Researching Developing Countries: A Data Resource Guide for Social Scientists serves as a reference guide for social scientists and students interested in answering these complex questions. The book will also be helpful to librarians serving the social science disciplines. Topics covered in the book include: human development, economics, governance, conflict, demographics, migration and refugees, environment, foreign aid, energy and infrastructure, innovation and entrepreneurship, geography and urban development, and public opinion."
Numeric Data Services and Sources for the General Reference Librarian by ISBN: 9781843345800Publication Date: 2011-05-26While mostly geared towards librarians, Chapter 4 gives a general overview of where how to search for data.
