By Nicole Daly 

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) has done it again! With the guiding force of University of Michigan professor Libby Hemphill and in collaboration with Meta, Facebook’s parent company, they have expanded their many data collections to include SOMAR, a social media archive for researchers to find and investigate data dealing with social media. 

As of May 1, 2023, the repository only holds 5 datasets, but it is growing and will be updated frequently to add more resources. For more information on using or adding to this resource go to the Social Media Archive (SOMAR) @ ICPSR.

Similar to its hosting site, ICPSR, SOMAR allows researchers to browse for datasets by collection or keyword. Users are able to narrow their search results by social media platform, allowing them to browse for data on or about specific sites, such as Facebook. Once a user has found a study and dataset of interest they will be able open the item record to read about the study details to determine if they would like to login and download the dataset.

A reminder, Villanova is a member institution of ICPSR, allowing faculty, staff, and students access to a vast collection of datasets in the social science realm. To begin using ICPSR, a free account must be created while on campus to gain access to the full collection. Once you have created your account you will be able to use this resource, and its linked collections like SOMAR, off campus. 

For any questions, contact Social Science Librarian Nicole Daly.

This resource is available from the Falvey Library homepage, Databases A-Z list.

Nicole Daly is Communication Librarian at Falvey Memorial Library. 

Help us celebrate Love Data Week, the international celebration of all things data related! Love data is a week dedicated to raising awareness and celebrating how data influences our world! 

This year’s theme is “Data: Agent of Change,” focusing on inspiring significant change through data, whether large or small, ranging from policy change, structural change, and social change! If you have not participated previously, now is the time! To help new and seasoned data users find data training and resources to move the needle on issues they care about, I have created a list of resources one could use to explore those issues. 

With February also being Black History Month, I wanted to bring attention to some of the research and data sources available covering issues with race, not only in the U.S. but worldwide.   

Check out these resources to learn more. 

U.S. Census Information on Race: https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race.html  

Race, Ethnicity and Marriage in the United States: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/07/interracial-marriages.html  

Pew Research Center Race and Ethnicity information: https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/race-ethnicity/ 

ICPSR is a data repository available to Villanova students, faculty, and staff. They host a variety of datasets that have been curated for ease of use, including many sets dealing with social issues. Two helpful features they offer are the Thematic Data Collections, which includes the Resource Center for Minority Data, and their Current Events in the Bib page, which shows publications dealing with current society issues and how data is being used in to broaden the scholarship. Explore ICPSR to find datasets available for secondary analysis to advance policy and social change. 

The International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology, IASSIST, recently released a webinar titled “A Conversation About Data on Race & Ethnicity Around the World” By Bobray Bordelon, Barbara Levergood, Kevin Manuel, Nigel de Noronha, Anja Perry, and Anne Zald. The panel was moderated by Alexandra Cooper and Deborah Wiltshire.

Erica Hayes, Digital Scholarship Librarian, recommends the book, Data Feminism by Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren Klein. “The book touches on why data scientists need feminism and how data can perpetuate intersectional inequalities. The book also provides examples of different projects like Data for Black Lives: https://d4bl.org/.” 

It is important to also highlight some of the inherent issues that are prevalent in data science. Beaudry Allen, University Archivist, recommends Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Noble to learn more about the systematic racism found in data science. 

For more information about different data resources Falvey offers check out the Falvey library blog. There were different data related posts throughout the week! Make sure to join us again next year for Love Data Week 2024, which will run from Feb. 12-16.

Follow and spread the word about Love Data Week 2023: @lovedataweek on Twitter and Instagram #lovedata23 

This event is hosted by ICPSR, a data repository that is available on Falvey Library’s homepage, Databases A-Z list. 

Nicole Daly is Communication Librarian at Falvey Library.

By Nicole Daly 

Join us for Love Data Week 2023! “Data: Agent of Change” starts February 13. Learn more at https://myumi.ch/ICPSRlovedata23. #LoveData23 

If you haven’t participated before, Love Data Week is the international celebration of data. The theme this year is “Data: Agent of Change.” Love Data Week 2023 is about inspiring your community to use data to bring about changes that matter. Policy change, environmental change, social change…we can move mountains with the right data guiding our decisions. This year we’re focused on helping new and seasoned data users find data training and other resources that can help move the needle on the issues they care about. 

Find events and activities happening locally and virtually around the world: Love Data Week 2023 events and activities. 

Don’t forget to check out and follow all of the social media posts from different institutions using the #LoveData23 tag! Feel free to join in by posting stories and photos about how you use data using #LoveData23 tag!

Meanwhile check out these data resources available through Falvey!

• ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan)
  • Provides access to archived social science data and data-driven learning guides designed for the classroom. Includes information about data management and curation services available to member institutions. (A free ICPSR account is required to download data. The account must be created on campus.)
• Qualitative Data Repository for qualitative and multi-method data.
  • Archives and publishes data generated through qualitative and multi-method research methods. Provides guidance for managing, sharing, citing, and reusing qualitative data. Villanova’s QDR membership offers a range of user support services to facilitate the storing and sharing of data.
• Pew Research Center
  • The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan “fact tank” that provides information on the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping America and the world. It does so by conducting public opinion polling and social science research; by reporting news and analyzing news coverage; and by holding forums and briefings. It does not take positions on policy issues.
• Statistical Insight (ProQuest)
  • Offers indexing, abstracting, and selected full text of statistical publications from U.S. state and federal governments, business and research institutes, and international material from the UN, OECD, EU, etc. Some tables are available in GIF, XLS, CSV, and other formats. 

This event is organized by ICPSR, a data repository that is available from the Falvey Library homepage, Databases A-Z list.

Nicole Daly is Communication Librarian at Falvey Memorial Library.

By Nicole Daly 

Love Data Week 2023 is only four weeks away! 

February 13-17, 2023, marks the annual international celebration of Love Data Week! This year’s theme is “Data: Agent of Change,” focusing on inspiring significant change through data, whether large or small, ranging from policy change, structural change, and social change! If you have not participated previously, now is the time! Learn more at https://myumi.ch/ICPSRlovedata23. #LoveData23

Let’s help new and seasoned data users find data training and resources to move the needle on issues they care about. It is easy! 

Here are 10 simple ways to get involved.

1. Follow @lovedataweek on Twitter and Instagram.
2. Attend one (or more!) of the Love Data Week activities virtually from wherever you are. Check out the calendar of events. New events are still being added so check back soon!
3. Host your own event. Want it added to the calendar? Submit your events and we’ll add it! Event ideas include:

                    Data management and sharing workshop

                    Finding data demo with your favorite data archive(s)

                    Participate in ICPSR’s yearly Adopt a Dataset Program 

                    Highlight impacts of recent local data-driven research

                    Share an activity or project for teaching with data

                    Host a data-thon where teams combine, analyze or visualize datasets on a key topic

                    Pick a crowdsourced project at a site like Zooniverse and host a data contribution party 

4. Recognize colleagues for their participation in Love Data Week activities and events with a Love Data Week-specific Certificate of Participation.
5. Post your own Love Data Week activities on social media with the hashtag #lovedataweek23.
6. Use a cool Love Data Week background graphic as your Zoom background or screensaver.
7. Download, print, and share Love Data Week stickers with friends, students, and colleagues. |
8. Have a data trivia contest with your team, office, staff, classroom, students, or family – and tell us what happened. (If you’re following us on social media, you’ll be able to see our daily trivia questions during Love Data Week.)
9. Spread the word about Love Data Week 2023 to maximize participation and creative events.
10. Sign up to receive Love Data Week update emails to get the latest news on activities and posts!  

This event is hosted by ICPSR, a data repository that is available from the Falvey Library homepage, Databases A-Z list.

Nicole Daly is Communication Librarian at Falvey Memorial Library.

By Nicole Daly 

If you have used any of our marketing and public relations databases or serials in the past, you’ll be happy to hear that Falvey Library has expanded access to PR Week online. In the past we have maintained access to PR Week articles, but there was a publication gap, limiting access to the newest and most up to date information in the field. Now with our expanded access students, faculty, and staff will have the opportunity to create a free account for the PR Week website. Giving access to the most relevant and up to date information! 

PRWeek has been around since 1998 and offers a website for public relations and marketing professionals to easily access news and opinion pieces relevant to the field. Our subscription now includes access to Breakfast Briefings each weekday morning, US Breaking News Alerts, and a Weekly Edition,which will provide students, staff, and faculty with the latest news coverage affecting the marketing communications industry. For more information on this resource go to https://www.prweek.com/us/about_us.

To benefit from unrestricted access to PRWeek.com you must be registered with your Villanova email address and not a personal email.

How to gain access:

Already registered? As long as you are registered with your Villanova email address, all you need to do is ‘Sign out’ and ‘Sign in’ at https://www.prweek.com/login

Not registered? Activate your subscription by completing a short registration Form.

• Step 1: To create your online account using your Villanova email address, visit https://www.prweek.com/register/ . Please provide your firstname, lastname, email and password, select your region and then click “CONTINUE”

• Step 2: Subscribers will automatically receive the Breakfast Briefing, Breaking News, Weekend and Weekly Online editions; Be sure to click “REGISTER” to complete your registration and activate your account. Once logged in, you may go to My Account, sign up for other newsletters and/or update your newsletter preferences.

Online support:

Forgotten your password? Simply enter your email address at users.prweek.com/password/ and a new password will be sent to you.

For further assistance please visit the FAQ page at prweek.com/us/faq . Alternatively, you can contact the support team at subscriptions@prweek.com . 

This resource is available from the Falvey Library homepage, Databases A-Z list.

Nicole Daly is Communication Librarian at Falvey Memorial Library.