The Exhibit of Datasets was an experimental project with the aim of providing concise introductions to research datasets in the humanities and social sciences deposited in a trusted repository and thus made accessible for the long term. The Exhibit consists of so-called 'showcases', short webpages summarizing and supplementing the corresponding data papers, published in the Research Data Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The showcase is a quick introduction to such a dataset, a bit longer than an abstract, with illustrations, interactive graphs and other multimedia (if available). As a rule it also offers the option to get acquainted with the data itself, through an interactive online spreadsheet, a data sample or link to the online database of a research project. Usually, access to these datasets requires several time consuming actions, such as downloading data, installing the appropriate software and correctly uploading the data into these programs. This makes it difficult for interested parties to quickly assess the possibilities for reuse in other projects.

The Exhibit aimed to help visitors of the website to get the right information at a glance by: - Attracting attention to (recently) acquired deposits: showing why data are interesting. - Providing a concise overview of the dataset's scope and research background; more details are to be found, for example, in the associated data paper in the Research Data Journal (RDJ). - Bringing together references to the location of the dataset and to more detailed information elsewhere, such as the project website of the data producers. - Allowing visitors to explore (a sample of) the data without downloading and installing associated software at first (see below). - Publishing related multimedia content, such as videos, animated maps, slideshows etc., which are currently difficult to include in online journals as RDJ. - Making it easier to review the dataset. The Exhibit would also have been the right place to publish these reviews in the same way as a webshop publishes consumer reviews of a product, but this could not yet be achieved within the limited duration of the project.

Note (1) The text of the showcase is a summary of the corresponding data paper in RDJ, and as such a compilation made by the Exhibit editor. In some cases a section 'Quick start in Reusing Data' is added, whose text is written entirely by the editor. (2) Various hyperlinks such as those to pages within the Exhibit website will no longer work. The interactive Zoho spreadsheets are also no longer available because this facility has been discontinued.