Students, staff, and librarians at Washington University in St. Louis are on the front lines of a national movement to preserve critical federal data—some of which has already disappeared from public agency websites like the CDC and HHS. Through campus-led hackathons, WashU is participating in the Data Rescue Project, a coordinated effort to archive datasets deemed “at risk” of deletion due to federal policy changes and agency restructuring. “Accessibility is core to the mission of libraries,” said Vice Provost Mimi Calter. “This project has allowed us to directly serve the needs of our faculty and students at a time when these resources are rapidly changing.” During these hackathons, volunteers comb through spreadsheets of flagged government websites, download vulnerable files, and upload them to public repositories—helping protect access to data that powers science, public health, and policy research. The “at-risk” designation often applies to agencies impacted by former President Donald Trump’s executive orders or restructuring efforts. “This is publicly funded data. We should have continued access to it,” said Avianna Wooten, lead coordinator of the Data Rescue Project and data management specialist at WashU. While some data has since been restored, Wooten emphasized the urgency of proactive preservation: “A lot of decisions and research rely on this data. Ensuring access is not just important—it’s essential.” 📎 Read the full STLPR story: stlpr.org/...