University of Houston Libraries

UH Libraries offers the following services to help you with your TDM related project:

• Consultations to help determine available data sources, ensure good data management, appropriate data access, and data security.
• Assistance with getting started using select data analysis related software.
• Facilitate vendor relationships and licensing/purchasing datasets for TDM, APIs, or environments when self-funded by researcher, or when library funds are available.

At the request of faculty, students, and staff, UH Libraries will consider the acquisition of datasets that require license or user agreements to access on a case-by-case basis. The purchase will be up to $5000. If you are able to contribute funding towards the cost of a resource, this is encouraged! Please be sure to indicate that in the request to purchase form.

For the Libraries to pursue the acquisition, the following must be met:

Eligibility

All UH faculty, students, and academic researchers are eligible to request; undergraduate requests must be supported by a faculty member.

Data Request Criteria:

These are the things that will increase the chance of being supported by library funding. Priorities will be given to the following: 

• All other funding opportunities were exhausted.
• The data should be available for university-wide online distribution.
• The data do not require ongoing subscriptions. If data requires a subscription model, UHL will subscribe for up to one year.
• The requested data should have specific curricular/research/project needs. Software is excluded from this program.
• License must be consistent with library and university policies.
• Data must not require additional technical or administrative restrictions to protect Personally Identifiable Information or other sensitive information.
• Data must not require local hosting/administration by UHL.
• The data must be accompanied by adequate documentation describing the data set and how to access and use it.

To request the purchase of data, please submit this form. Selections are based on data cost, availability of funds, and the above listed criteria. If data can be acquired with no apparent restrictions or terms, UH Libraries will proceed with acquisition after verifying with the provider of the data. If the data requires an agreement, UH Libraries will only acquire it if terms reflect user needs and are in accordance with the Libraries’ legal obligations.

Contact

If you have questions about access to data for conducting TDM related work, please contact social science data librarian Emma Fontenot.