LibGuides: 2025 Presidential Transition: Home

Friday Chat 2/7/2025

Friday Chat, February 7, 2025 1 pm Eastern time.

Federal web site changes/disappearance

This guide was created to gather resources for Friday Chat.

GODORT Friday Chats
by Lynda Kellam Last Updated Feb 3, 2025 280 views this year

Welcome

In order to be efficient - links to other resources are included. We are currently not duplicating their links here. If you know of a comprehensive site, let us know and we will switch efforts to help them.

Transitions from one presidential administration to another usually involve some changes to federal government websites. January 2025 saw an increase in such changes.

Some sites have changed terminology - example “climate resilience” has replaced "climate change". Other terms and topics being scrubbed are: diversity; equity; inclusion/inclusive; pregnant people; gender; gender identity; transgender

Resources for Archived Sites

Call to arms: What government information librarians can do to help save critical federal information from being lost
By James R. Jacobs in post on February 5, 2025. Free Government Information
End of Term Web Archive
Site: "The End of Term Web Archive captures and saves U.S. Government websites at the end of presidential administrations. The EOT has thus far preserved websites from administration changes in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020."
End of Term Web Archive Partners
Data Rescue Efforts
Lynda Kellam's google doc on notes for a data organization meeting preserving
Purged Federal Agency Data Available on PolicyMap
Democracy's Library Internet Archive
Site: "Democracy's Library brings together more than 700 collections from over 50 government organizations, archived by the Internet Archive since 2006. With more than half a million documents (and counting) from local, regional, and national governments, we're just getting started!"
WayBack Machine - Internet Archive
Economic Justice Screening Tool - Unofficial
Site: "This is an unofficial copy of the CEJST Tool. We are working on an overhaul, but in the meantime some links and text may incorrectly suggest that this site is affiliated with the US Government."
Public Environmental Data Partners
Site: "The Public Environmental Data Partners are committed to preserving and providing public access to federal environmental data. We are a volunteer coalition of several environmental, justice and policy organizations, researchers across several universities, archivists, and students who rely on federal datasets and tools to support critical research, advocacy, policy, and litigation work."

Sites for Tracking

Government Information: Eliminated, Suspended, Etc.
Site: "Tracks the Trump's Administration of government U.S. Federal information." By Ben Amata
U.S. Government Information: Trump Trackers
UC San Diego "These tools may be helpful in keeping track of the many changes being made by the Trump administration."
Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
From Just Security: "This public resource tracks legal challenges to Trump administration actions" "The Tracker is part of the Collection: Just Security’s Coverage of the Trump Administration’s Executive Actions"
Silencing Science Tracker
Site: "The Silencing Science Tracker is a joint initiative of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. It tracks government attempts to restrict or prohibit scientific research, education or discussion, or the publication or use of scientific information, since the November 2016 election."
more...less...
"The tracker does not include federal legislative proposals affecting scientific research, education, or discussion. State-level proposals are included, however."
Climate Backtracker
Site: "The Climate Backtracker identifies steps taken by the Trump-Vance administration to scale back or wholly eliminate federal climate mitigation and adaptation measures. The tracker is linked to our database of climate change regulations, related news, and two previous climate regulation trackers: the Climate Deregulation Tracker covering the first Trump administration and the Climate Reregulation Tracker covering the Biden administration."
Project 2025 Executive Action Tracker
Site: "The Center for Progressive Reform and Governing for Impact are monitoring the Trump administration’s implementation of Project 2025, tracking the authoritarian blueprint’s executive action proposals across 20 federal agencies."

Additional Resources

Free Government Information (FGI)
Site: "OUR MISSION. Free Government Information (FGI) — ISSN 2377-0910 — is a place for initiating dialogue and building consensus among the various players (libraries, government agencies, non-profit organizations, researchers, journalists, etc.) who have a stake in the preservation of and perpetual free access to government information. FGI promotes free government information through collaboration, education, advocacy and research."
Digital Federal Depository Library Program LOCKSS
Site: "The Digital Federal Depository Library Program provides decentralized and distributed preservation of documents published by the U.S. Federal Government."
more...less...
The Digital Federal Depository Library Program, or the “USDocs” LOCKSS network, replicates key aspects of the United States Federal Depository Library Program. The content is held in geographically-distributed sites and replicated many times. Citizens have oversight and responsibility for the long-term care and maintenance of the content. All of these characteristics mean that the content will be preserved so that any alteration of the content (either deliberate or accidental) will be detected and repaired. For all documents, preservation in a tamper-evident environment is important, but for government documents, this is essential.
IPUMS
Site: "IPUMS provides census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space. IPUMS integration and documentation makes it easy to study change, conduct comparative research, merge information across data types, and analyze individuals within family and community contexts. Data and services available free of charge."
Attacks on Science
Union of Concerned Scientists
Published Jan 20, 2017 Updated Jan 31, 2025
Open Environmental Data Project
Sidelining Science Since Day One. How the Trump Administration Has Harmed Public Health and Safety in its First Six Months
Published Jul 13, 2017 Union of Concerned Scientists
Includes a section "What Can We Do"
Governing for Impact