Library Data Award Program -- University of Chicago

Apply for a Library Data Award

The University of Chicago Library is pleased to announce the inaugural opening of its Library Data Award to support student research. Expanding on UChicago librarians’ regular purchases of datasets and subscription databases (see the How do I find data or statistics? guide for examples), this award program invites UChicago students to directly request data that is needed for their research. The program further aligns data collection development with user needs.

Data shown with map of Costa Rica

Historical demographic data from Costa Rica (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos and East View Geospatial)

The award program will fund the Library’s purchase of eligible data for undergraduate and graduate student research. Examples of data purchased or subscribed to in the past, include:

Interested students are encouraged to reach out to the subject librarian that specializes in their area of study to discuss the data needed for their project before completing an application. Students may also contact us via the Ask a Librarian service to be connected to their subject librarian.

Review of applications begins on February 1, 2022. Recipients will be notified and the Library will begin the purchasing process on March 1, 2022. Questions about the award details and the application can be sent to awardfordata@lib.uchicago.edu.

The Library Data Award program compliments other data support services offered at UChicago Library. For example, the Library also supports:

Subject and data specialists are available to faculty and students for research consultations. Librarians can also help faculty integrate data into their classroom instruction, for example creating assignments with data from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).

Please reach out to the Ask a Librarian to be connected with a specialist.