Preservation of Software Barbara Sierman (digital preservation manager) E-Humanities Software and Tools Sustainability,

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands Mission of the KB The KB is the national library of the Netherlands: we bring people and information together. We offer everyone access to everything published in and about the Netherlands (strategic priority #1) “We guarantee long-term storage of digital information” (strategic priority #3) Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands E-Humanities and Digital Preservation Relationship e-humanities & digital preservation Recent study “Sustaining our digital future” Digitization projects & related tools, services Keeping digital collections accessible Permanent activity Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands Digital preservation at the KB-NL E-depot since 2002 Main digital collections: Born digital material: E-journals E-Books Digitized material Web Archive Fast growing amount of digital objects: 2PB in 2020 Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands Digital preservation at the KB-NL Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands Preservation Strategy: Migration Strictly speaking “transformation” (OAIS) Expected Risk : Obsolescence of file format Measure : standards, limited set of file formats In practice Position of National Library Other reasons for migration Only for “straight forward” digital objects Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands Preservation Strategy: Emulation Risk: unable to render material faithfully Loss of “original look and feel” Especially “complex” digital objects Several potential collections - interactive material (CD-ROMs) - supplemental files added to e-journals and e- books - webarchives Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands Emulation research Research with IBM, resulting in LTP Studies 2002 Emulation, Universal Virtual Computer links/kbibm-long-term-preservation-study The Preservation Layer Model (PLM) Emulating the hardware Development of Dioscuri (with NA) But how to get the software? Software archive: licenses, manuals, metadata descriptions etc. Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands Planets project Emulation becomes more complex The complexity of modern computer environments Complex and often interacting applications Legal Issues Digital rights management Copy protection measures Knowledge: How is software working? Issues with setting up a Software Archive Variety in sw releases, different languages, geographical areas, parameters Preservation of software requires OAIS archive conditions (like other digital objects) Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands EU project KEEP Focus on multimedia works TOTEM Trustworthy Online Technical Environment Metadata Registry Description of hardware and related software Emulation Framework Project to implement it in KB “research environment” with samples of the collection To work properly: Software Archive needed! Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands EU project KEEP legal study National, European & International legislation are not consistent Libraries and Archives have special rights, but in EU not all have the same rights EC law does not provide the full legal permissions required for KEEP (the emulation framework) For example : “Reproduction of computer programs and databases even when carried out by memory organisations and authorized under national laws, is in conflict with EC Law” Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands Open Planets Foundation Originally founded to safeguard the “products” of EU projects Now: A vivid Digital Preservation Platform for a large community blogs, hackatons, webinars etc. Collaboration with software suppliers, like Microsoft Research (OPF member) Software/emulation as a service (SaaS/EaaS) Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands NCDD: a place to act? A national challenge In NCDD various collections represented AV material Digital Art Interactives etc. Platform for collaboration Preservation of Software

© 2010 Koninklijke Bibliotheek – National Library of the Netherlands Conclusions There is a need for a software archive for emulation We have a pretty good idea what is should look like Some individual initiatives (Australia, New Zealand) Even better: a collaborative initiative Thank you! Preservation of Software