A New and Improved NPDN National Data Repository
Tania Brenes- Arguedas – NPDN Program Coordinator
The Communicator: Volume 7, Issue 7, August 2026
If you’ve visited the NPDN National Data Repository (NDR) recently, you’ve probably noticed that it has a new look. This is the result of a collaborative effort between the NPDN IT Center, National Program, and Professional Development Program.
The redesigned NDR was made possible by an APHIS-funded project with the goals of making the NDR easier to use for NPDN members and providing clear training to the site users on how to best utilize this NPDN resource. The improvements were driven by feedback from the NPDN community. In January 2025, 32 users shared their experiences through the NDR user survey, and additional ideas and recommendations came from focus group discussions during the 2025 IT Meeting. Your feedback helped identify which tools were more useful and suggested many improvements.
The improvements already implemented include restructuring the site to make it easier to navigate to the most commonly used tools, changes to the search tools so they are easier to understand, improvements in some search categories, and more documentation explaining the search tools and data available. The NPDN IT team also made the look and feel consistent with NPDN branding and enhanced WCA3 ADA accessibility throughout the site, ensuring NPDN’s adherence to accessibility requirements for our members and partners.
While the improvements are already available to users, the project is still underway. A recently approved no-cost extension will allow us to develop new user training materials to help users get the most out of the NDR. We also are still testing the updated site and continue working on improving the documentation.
We encourage you to explore the updated repository and let us know what you think. Your feedback has shaped these improvements, and it will continue to guide future enhancements. If you encounter anything that doesn't work as expected or have ideas for additional improvements, we'd love to hear from you. Please reach out to NPDN’s Program Coordinator, Tania Brenes-Arguedas at tbrenesa@ucdavis.edu.
These improvements were possible thanks to the PPA7721 project “1A.0268.01 NPDN Data - Navigation Improvements and training new users” funded by APHIS-PPQ (AP25PPQS&T00C081).
