Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, which means that Love Data Week 2026 is finally here! Every year during the week of Valentine’s Day, all data-lovers get the chance to come together and participate in data-themed events, sessions, games, and more. Love Data Week originated as “Love Your Data Week” in 2016, and has since become an internationally recognized and celebrated event. By 2018, this event name was officially changed and recognized as Love Data Week. Inspired by the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the University of Maryland has been participating and hosting our own celebration of Love Data Week since 2023. The theme for the 2026 Love Data Week is “Where’s The Data?”–encouraging conversation and thinking about where and how we get data, where we keep data, and how we keep it safe. Join us February 9-13 to celebrate data, inform our campus data culture, strengthen our shared data literacy, and promote data privacy and stewardship.
Ways to Participate
There are a variety of ways you can get involved with Love Data Week as a University of Maryland student, faculty, or staff member. Next week, we will be hosting a variety of engaging and thought-provoking data-related sessions, events, games, activities, and more.
If you are looking for in-person involvement, consider participating in the following:
- UMD Libraries Scavenger Hunt - Throughout the week, there will be a data-themed scavenger hunt within the UMD Libraries. This scavenger hunt will lead you to discover hidden QR codes and uncover how our libraries support data exploration, research, and discovery. The first 10 finishers, both virtual and in-person, will receive a special love data week-themed prize.
- Love Data Week Open House - Come to the open house, where you’ll have the opportunity to meet with and talk to other data-lovers, various UMD data experts, and learn more about what Love Data Week is all about. Find us in the Edward St.John Learning and Teaching Center Atrium from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 10.
If you are looking for virtual involvement, consider participating in the following:
- UMD Virtual Scavenger Hunt - Can’t participate in-person? We’ve got you covered–you can still join in on the path to data discovery virtually. You will start the process the same as the in-person option, then continue virtually through various UMD online resources. The first 10 finishers, both virtual and in-person, will receive a special love data week-themed prize.
- UMD-hosted or Big Ten Academic Alliance-hosted Virtual Sessions - These informational learning sessions range from demonstrating how to use Python, R, ArcGIS, Tableau, and more to exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) fuels data systems, including opportunities to participate in discussions about the federal data landscape, data careers, cloud storage and data governance, and data accessibility.
- Games from UMD's Love Data Week Website - For example, connections, a data-themed category matching puzzle that is refreshed every day during Love Data Week. If you take screenshots of successful completion of each day's connections game, you will be eligible to earn a digital Love Data Week badge!
Love Data Week is the place to be if you are a data-lover, or if you have curiosity about how data shows up in your life. Be sure to check out the website at go.umd.edu/lovedata where you will find more details around ways to participate throughout the week through sessions, events, games, and activities. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to join us and help us answer the question we have all asked: “Where’s the data?”