diff --git a/.github/actions/wait-for-pypi-version/action.yaml b/.github/actions/wait-for-pypi-version/action.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a0b5d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/wait-for-pypi-version/action.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+name: 'Wait for PyPI version'
+description: 'Wait for a specific package version to become available on PyPI or TestPyPI'
+inputs:
+  repository:
+    description: 'PyPI repository type: "pypi" or "testpypi"'
+    required: true
+  package:
+    description: 'Package name'
+    required: true
+  version:
+    description: 'Package version to wait for'
+    required: true
+  max_attempts:
+    description: 'Maximum number of retry attempts'
+    required: false
+    default: '30'
+  wait_seconds:
+    description: 'Seconds to wait between attempts'
+    required: false
+    default: '10'
+
+runs:
+  using: composite
+  steps:
+    - name: Install requests
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        pip install requests
+
+    - name: Wait for version to be available
+      shell: python
+      env:
+        REPOSITORY: ${{ inputs.repository }}
+        PACKAGE: ${{ inputs.package }}
+        VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
+        MAX_ATTEMPTS: ${{ inputs.max_attempts }}
+        WAIT_SECONDS: ${{ inputs.wait_seconds }}
+      run: |
+        import os
+        import sys
+        import time
+
+        import requests
+
+        repository = os.environ["REPOSITORY"].strip().lower()
+        package = os.environ["PACKAGE"]
+        version = os.environ["VERSION"]
+        max_attempts = int(os.environ.get("MAX_ATTEMPTS", "30"))
+        wait_seconds = int(os.environ.get("WAIT_SECONDS", "10"))
+
+        if repository == "testpypi":
+            api_url = f"https://test.pypi.org/pypi/{package}/json"
+            repo_name = "TestPyPI"
+        elif repository == "pypi":
+            api_url = f"https://pypi.org/pypi/{package}/json"
+            repo_name = "PyPI"
+        else:
+            print(
+                f"ERROR: repository must be 'pypi' or 'testpypi', got {repository!r}",
+                file=sys.stderr,
+            )
+            sys.exit(1)
+
+        for attempt in range(max_attempts):
+            try:
+                r = requests.get(api_url, timeout=10)
+                r.raise_for_status()
+                data = r.json()
+                versions = data.get("releases", {})
+                keys = list(versions.keys())
+                print("Available versions:", keys[-10:])  # Show last 10 versions
+                if version in versions:
+                    print(f"✓ Version {version} is available on {repo_name}")
+                    print(f"Version {version} is now available on {repo_name}")
+                    sys.exit(0)
+                print(f"✗ Version {version} is NOT available on {repo_name}")
+            except Exception as e:
+                print(f"Error checking version: {e}")
+
+            current = attempt + 1
+            print(
+                f"Attempt {current}/{max_attempts}: Version {version} not yet available "
+                f"on {repo_name}, waiting {wait_seconds} seconds..."
+            )
+            time.sleep(wait_seconds)
+
+        print(
+            f"ERROR: Version {version} did not become available on {repo_name} "
+            f"after {max_attempts} attempts",
+            file=sys.stderr,
+        )
+        sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yaml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 543a2cb..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,57 +0,0 @@
-name: Build and upload to PyPi
-
-on:
-  push:
-    tags:
-      - "*"
-  release:
-    types:
-      - published
-
-jobs:
-  testpypi_push:
-    environment:
-      name: deploy
-      url: https://test.pypi.org/p/MDAnalysisData
-    permissions:
-      id-token: write
-    if: |
-      github.repository == 'MDAnalysis/MDAnalysisData' &&
-      (github.event_name == 'push' && startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/'))
-    name: Build, upload and test pure Python wheels to TestPypi
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: testpypi_deploy
-        uses: MDAnalysis/pypi-deployment@main
-        if: github.event_name == 'push' && startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
-        with:
-          test_submission: true
-          package_name: MDAnalysisData
-          module_name: 'MDAnalysisData'
-          test_deps: 'pytest pytest-mock'
-
-  pypi_push:
-    environment:
-      name: deploy
-      url: https://pypi.org/p/MDAnalysisData
-    permissions:
-      id-token: write
-    if: |
-      github.repository == 'MDAnalysis/MDAnalysisData' &&
-      (github.event_name == 'release' && github.event.action == 'published')
-    name: Build, upload and test pure Python wheels to PyPi
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: pypi_deploy
-        uses: MDAnalysis/pypi-deployment@main
-        if: github.event_name == 'release' && github.event.action == 'published'
-        with:
-          package_name: MDAnalysisData
-          module_name: 'MDAnalysisData'
-          test_deps: 'pytest pytest-mock'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf15def
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,229 @@
+name: PyPi Package Deployment
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags:
+      - "*"
+  release:
+    types:
+      - published
+
+concurrency:
+  group: "${{ github.ref }}-${{ github.head_ref }}-${{ github.workflow }}"
+  cancel-in-progress: false
+
+defaults:
+  run:
+    shell: bash -l {0}
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    name: Build package
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      version: ${{ steps.extract-version.outputs.version }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-tags: true
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.14"
+
+      - name: Install build dependencies
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install build twine
+
+      - name: Build package (binary wheel and source distribution package)
+        run: python -m build
+
+      - name: Check package
+        run: twine check dist/*
+
+      - name: Extract package version
+        id: extract-version
+        run: |
+          WHEEL_FILE=$(ls dist/*.whl)
+          VERSION=$(basename "$WHEEL_FILE" | sed -n 's/mdanalysisdata-\([^-]*\)-.*/\1/p')
+          if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
+            python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+            pip install "$WHEEL_FILE" --quiet
+            VERSION=$(python -c "import MDAnalysisData; print(MDAnalysisData.__version__)")
+            pip uninstall -y MDAnalysisData --quiet
+          fi
+          echo "version=$VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "Extracted version: $VERSION"
+
+      - name: Upload dist files
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: dist-files
+          path: dist/
+          retention-days: 1
+
+  test-pytest:
+    name: Run tests
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: build
+    steps:
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.14"
+
+      - name: Download dist files
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
+        with:
+          name: dist-files
+          path: dist/
+
+      - name: Install package with test dependencies and tests
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          WHEEL_FILE=$(ls dist/*.whl)
+          pip install "${WHEEL_FILE}[test]"
+
+      - name: Test import
+        run: |
+          python -c "import MDAnalysisData; print(f'Package {MDAnalysisData.__version__} imported successfully')"
+          
+      - name: Run tests (without data file downloads)
+        run: |
+          pytest --verbose -m "not online" --pyargs MDAnalysisData
+
+  deploy-testpypi:
+    name: Deploy to TestPyPI
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [build, test-pytest]
+    if: |
+      github.repository == 'MDAnalysis/MDAnalysisData' &&
+      (github.event_name == 'push' && startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/'))
+    environment:
+      name: testpypi
+      url: https://test.pypi.org/p/MDAnalysisData
+    permissions:
+      id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for trusted publishing
+    steps:
+      - name: Download dist files
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
+        with:
+          name: dist-files
+          path: dist/
+
+      - name: Publish to TestPyPI
+        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@v1.13.0
+        with:
+          repository-url: https://test.pypi.org/legacy/
+          verbose: true         # useful debugging info (eg wrong classifiers)
+          skip-existing: true   # allows repeated testing with same tag
+
+  deploy-pypi:
+    name: Deploy to PyPI
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [build, test-pytest]
+    if: |
+      github.repository == 'MDAnalysis/MDAnalysisData' &&
+      (github.event_name == 'release' && github.event.action == 'published')
+    environment:
+      name: pypi
+      url: https://pypi.org/p/MDAnalysisData
+    permissions:
+      id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for trusted publishing
+    steps:
+      - name: Download dist files
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v8
+        with:
+          name: dist-files
+          path: dist/
+
+      - name: Publish to PyPI
+        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@v1.13.0
+
+  test-deployed-testpypi:
+    name: Test deployed package (TestPyPI)
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
+    needs: [build, deploy-testpypi]
+    if: |
+      github.repository == 'MDAnalysis/MDAnalysisData' &&
+      (github.event_name == 'push' && startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/'))
+    steps:
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.14"
+
+      - name: Checkout repository for actions
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          path: source    # put code under different path and do not cd to avoid interference with pytest invocation (missing authors.py)
+
+      - name: Wait for version to be available on TestPyPI
+        uses: ./source/.github/actions/wait-for-pypi-version
+        with:
+          repository: testpypi
+          package: MDAnalysisData
+          version: ${{ needs.build.outputs.version }}
+
+      - name: Install from TestPyPI
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install --index-url https://test.pypi.org/simple/ --extra-index-url https://pypi.org/simple/ "MDAnalysisData[test]==${{ needs.build.outputs.version }}"
+
+      - name: Test import
+        run: |
+          python -c "import MDAnalysisData; print(f'Package {MDAnalysisData.__version__} imported successfully from TestPyPi')"
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: |
+          pytest --verbose -m "not online" --pyargs MDAnalysisData
+
+  test-deployed-pypi:
+    name: Test deployed package (PyPI)
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        os: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest]
+    needs: [build, deploy-pypi]
+    if: |
+      github.repository == 'MDAnalysis/MDAnalysisData' &&
+      (github.event_name == 'release' && github.event.action == 'published')
+    steps:
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.14"
+
+      - name: Checkout repository for actions
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          path: source    # put code under different path and do not cd to avoid interference with pytest invocation (missing authors.py)
+
+      - name: Wait for version to be available on PyPI
+        uses: ./source/.github/actions/wait-for-pypi-version
+        with:
+          repository: pypi
+          package: MDAnalysisData
+          version: ${{ needs.build.outputs.version }}
+
+      - name: Install from PyPI
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install "MDAnalysisData[test]==${{ needs.build.outputs.version }}"
+
+      - name: Test import
+        run: |
+          python -c "import MDAnalysisData; print(f'Package {MDAnalysisData.__version__} imported successfully from PyPi')"
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: |
+          pytest --verbose -m "not online" --pyargs MDAnalysisData
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs.yml b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
index 3c85b00..0659471 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
@@ -14,14 +14,14 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
       with:
         fetch-depth: 0
 
     - name: Setup python
-      uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v6
       with:
-        python-version: 3.9
+        python-version: 3.14
 
     - name: Display Python version
       run: python -c "import sys; print(sys.version)"
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ jobs:
         make html
 
     - name: deploy docs
-      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
+      uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v4
       with:
         github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         publish_dir: ./docs/_build/html
diff --git a/.github/workflows/gh-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/gh-ci.yml
index 501c22b..e5b1ee0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gh-ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gh-ci.yml
@@ -24,24 +24,24 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         os: [ubuntu-latest]
-        python-version: ["3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12"]
+        python-version: ["3.11", "3.12", "3.13", "3.14"]
         include:
           - os: macOS-latest
-            python-version: "3.9"
+            python-version: "3.11"
           - os: macOS-latest
-            python-version: "3.12"
+            python-version: "3.14"
           - os: windows-latest
-            python-version: "3.9"
+            python-version: "3.11"
           - os: windows-latest
-            python-version: "3.12"
+            python-version: "3.14"
 
     steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v6
       with:
         fetch-depth: 0
 
     - name: Setup python
-      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v6
       with:
         python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
 
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Install package dependencies
       run: |
-        python -m pip install six setuptools tqdm
+        python -m pip install setuptools tqdm
 
     - name: Install package
       run: |
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Codecov
       if: github.event_name != 'schedule'
-      uses: codecov/codecov-action@v4
+      uses: codecov/codecov-action@v6
       with:
         name: codecov-${{ matrix.os }}-py${{ matrix.python-version }}
         token: ${{ secrets.CODECOV_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5d3c11c..bae6bf9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,9 +6,13 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## Unreleased
 
-## Changes
+### Changes
+- Update package to only support NEP29 range (Python 3.11 - 3.14 as of writing)
 - Update packaging to be PEP518 compliant.
 
+### Fixes
+- removed deprecated pkg_resources use (#75)
+
 ## [0.9.0] - 2023-10-30
 
 ### Changes
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index db4e2ce..f3cac6b 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
-include README.md AUTHORS LICENSE CHANGELOG.md
+include README.md CHANGELOG.md
+graft MDAnalysisData
+global-exclude __pycache__ *.pyc *~
diff --git a/MDAnalysisData/descr/__init__.py b/MDAnalysisData/descr/__init__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 8b13789..0000000
--- a/MDAnalysisData/descr/__init__.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-
diff --git a/MDAnalysisData/tests/conftest.py b/MDAnalysisData/tests/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8cb55bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MDAnalysisData/tests/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# see also pyproject.toml pytest.markers
+def pytest_configure(config):
+    config.addinivalue_line(
+        "markers", "online: will fetch remote files (deselect with with '-m \"not online\"')",
+    )
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 85b2d8f..fad179a 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [build-system]
 requires = [
-  "setuptools >= 40.9.0",
+  "setuptools >= 77.0.0",
   "versioningit",
 ]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 [project]
 name = "MDAnalysisData"
 description = "MDAnalysis example data"
-license = {file = "LICENSE" }
+license = "BSD-3-Clause"
+license-files = ["LICENSE", "AUTHORS"]
 authors = [
     {name = "Oliver Beckstein", email = "orbeckst@gmail.com"},
 ]
@@ -19,23 +20,22 @@ classifiers = [
     "Development Status :: 4 - Beta",
     "Environment :: Console",
     "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
-    "License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License",
     "Operating System :: POSIX",
     "Operating System :: MacOS :: MacOS X",
-    "Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows ",
+    "Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows",
     "Programming Language :: Python",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
-    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
-    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13",
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14",    
     "Topic :: Scientific/Engineering",
     "Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Bio-Informatics",
     "Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: Chemistry",
     "Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules",
 ]
 readme = {file = "README.md", content-type = "text/markdown"}
-requires-python = ">=3.9"
+requires-python = ">=3.11"
 dependencies = [
     "tqdm",
 ]
@@ -59,17 +59,14 @@ documentation = "https://www.mdanalysis.org/MDAnalysisData"
 
 [tool.setuptools]
 zip-safe = true
-include-package-data = true
 
 [tool.setuptools.packages.find]
-namespaces = false
-include=["MDAnalysisData"]
+namespaces = true
+where = ["."]
 exclude=["docs"]
 
 [tool.setuptools.package-data]
-MDAnalysisData = [
-    "descr/*.rst",
-]
+"MDAnalysisData.descr" = ["*.rst"]
 
 [tool.versioningit]
 default-version = "1+unknown"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a21e25d..9433195 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 """
 Barebones setup.py for dynamic authors list generation.
 """
-import codecs
 import os
 import warnings
 
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ def dynamic_author_list():
     # MDAnalysisData.
 
     authors = []
-    with codecs.open(abspath('AUTHORS'), encoding='utf-8') as infile:
+    with open(abspath('AUTHORS'), encoding='utf-8') as infile:
         # An author is a bullet point under the title "Chronological list of
         # authors". We first want move the cursor down to the title of
         # interest.
@@ -64,7 +63,7 @@ def dynamic_author_list():
 
     # Write the authors.py file.
     out_path = abspath('MDAnalysisData/authors.py')
-    with codecs.open(out_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as outfile:
+    with open(out_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as outfile:
         # Write the header
         header = '''\
 #-*- coding:utf-8 -*-