How Data Providers Are Meeting the Needs of Modern Business Libraries
In a world increasingly driven by data, business librarians sit at a crucial intersection: part educator, part technologist, part negotiator. At the 2025 BRASS Publishers Forum, three data providers — IPUMS, Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS), and Dewey Data — offered a window into how they’re responding to the evolving challenges librarians face. Their approaches differ, but the goal is shared: making data more accessible, manageable, and meaningful for academic research.
If you’re interested, you can watch the entire recording.
IPUMS: Public Data, Sharpened for Research
IPUMS has long been the quiet powerhouse of harmonized public data. Built from massive U.S. and international census and survey datasets, their platform’s true innovation lies not in what data it offers — but in how it’s prepared.
Researchers often face a long, painful slog through inconsistent variable names, PDF-bound documentation, and outdated file formats. IPUMS addresses this by doing the heavy lifting upfront: harmonizing variables across decades, integrating documentation directly into the web interface, and letting users build exactly the dataset they need.
For librarians, this means less time spent untangling variable definitions or supporting stalled research projects, and more time helping patrons ask better questions.
IPUMS Highlights
Theme: “IPUMS lets us start where we actually want to — analysis — not cleanup.”
WRDS: A Trusted Partner with a Legacy in Finance
Wharton Research Data Services is the stalwart partner for thousands of academic institutions, particularly in finance and accounting. But WRDS isn’t standing still. As demand grows for environmental, healthcare, and alternative datasets, they’ve started expanding beyond their historical strengths — with cautious discipline.
At BRASS, WRDS emphasized its commitment to compliance and support. Their layered infrastructure — from SAS-based tools for power users to point-and-click web queries for new researchers — reflects a platform built over decades in partnership with university IT and faculty.
However, its depth also comes with complexity. Some datasets remain hidden behind FTP downloads or SAS-only interfaces. And WRDS, like many legacy platforms, hasn’t yet integrated AI tooling or modern visualization into its interface — a conscious decision prioritizing academic rigor over trend-chasing.
WRDS Highlights
Theme: “At WRDS, stability and security are features, not bugs.”
Dewey Data: Reimagining Access to Commercial Datasets
Dewey Data (our team) entered the scene to address a different kind of gap — one that public and academic providers weren’t built to solve. For researchers hungry to explore mobility, labor market dynamics, consumer behavior, or point-of-interest data, commercial data vendors hold the keys. But those keys often come wrapped in opaque pricing, bespoke licenses, and difficult-to-use files.
Dewey flips the model. Instead of a la carte negotiations, we offer one subscription that unlocks curated, pre-vetted data from a growing list of commercial providers. Pricing is transparent. Licensing is simplified. And onboarding happens via a clean interface that puts samples, data dictionaries, and support just a click away.
Librarians who’ve used Dewey describe it less like negotiating with a vendor — and more like deploying a service. With AI features coming soon, including natural language dataset search and sandbox environments, we aim to reduce overhead while expanding access.
Dewey Data Highlights
Theme: “Commercial data should be accessible, not adversarial. We exist to fix that.”
Where Do We Go From Here?
The BRASS Forum made one thing clear: there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each provider represents a distinct model:
- IPUMS is ideal for in-depth demographic or historical work on a budget.
- WRDS offers robust regulatory-grade data for finance-driven departments.
- Dewey bridges the academic-industry gap with modern access to commercial data.
For librarians, the challenge now isn’t just acquiring data — it’s orchestrating a portfolio of data partners that meet the diverse needs of modern research. That means aligning vendor models with institutional goals, researcher experience levels, and data support capacity.
Final Thought
In a time when budgets are under pressure and research timelines are tighter than ever, the best data partners are not just the ones with the biggest archives — they’re the ones making the researcher’s job easier, faster, and smarter.