[sebhc] A little advice for preserving software.

[Eric J. Rothfus]

I have a slightly different view for preservation of
old software:  image it onto a running machine and
hopefully get it on-line.

By getting the old software onto a running machine,
there is a far higher likelihood that it will continue
to be transferred to newer and newer storage as people
migrate from machine to machine.  Further, as people
create back-ups on whatever media, there becomes a
higher and higher probability that the media used for
backup will maintain its integrity (as a whole) and
that the media will be readable in the future.

(the following is controversial I know...)

Then, by getting the old software "on-line" or "shared"
there will be more people/machines who will archive it,
making use of the largest search engine on the planet:
the human network.  Sure, copyright laws make this
method unpalatable to many.  However, as a past software
designer and seller, my personal experience drives me
to want to preserve that software which no longer has
a commercial value beyond the nostalgic value to
collectors.

I have been curious about this issue for quite some time.
And it led me to contact the Library of Congress in an
attempt to figure out if/how the body of software knowledge
is being preserved as is one of the Library of Congress's
charters for printed "knowledge."  I haven't pursued the
thread recently, but here is the response I received.
Note that I've reformatted the message a bit to make it
clear.

I'd be interested to hear other views on the topic.

Eric

---------------------------------------------------------
       E-mail from the Library of Congress
---------------------------------------------------------

> Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 17:11:54 -0500 (EST)
> From: sciref at loc.gov
> To: eric at rothfus.com
> Subject: Library Question - Answer [Question #296128]
> 
> [Question]: 
> Does the Library of Congress maintain archives of computer
> software?  Much of the recent "history" (computer history)
> of the US is contained in rapidly degrading software
> diskettes and tapes.  It would be quite disappointing to
> lose this history.
> 
> I believe it would be quite possible to develop mechanisms
> to maintain this history as well as to make it accessible
> to the public.
> 
> 
> [Answer]:
> Librarian 2: Greetings Eric, You have hit upon a very
> important task that is plaguing libraries and archival
> institutions worldwide. As you may well know, digital
> preservation is not an easy task.
> 
> Currently, the Library of Congress collects software
> products on disc (floppy, CDROM, etc). Copyright law
> states that anything published and copyright protected in
> the US must deposit two copies of that work to the Library
> of Congress. For example, we have a lot of software
> products from the well know companies such as
> Microsoft. One of the more difficult software programs to
> collect is those born digitally- available for downloads
> on the Web - such as Real Player. Should we collect the
> code, the set up files...?
> 
> The Library of Congress is involved with the National
> Digital Information Infrastructure Preservation Program
> (NDIIPP)
> 
>   <http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/>
> 
> There are other organizations investing time and thought
> into this predicament:
> 
>   Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Digital
>   Library Federation <http://www.diglib.org/preserve.htm>
> 
> Research Libraries Group: Digital Preservation
> 
>   <http://www.rlg.org/longterm/>
> 
> There are institutions involved in archiving software. The
> University of Michigan is one such institution
> 
>   <http://www.umich.edu/~archive/>
> 
> Also see, Preserving Access to digital information
> 
>   <http://www.nla.gov.au/padi/>
> 
> One of the problems with archiving software is having the
> hardware to play it back. Just because one has saved the
> data, doesn't mean that is will be readable or useable in
> the future.
> 
> You might wish to contact organizations such as CLIR
> (Council of Library and Information Resources) Digital
> Library Federation, Research Libraries Group, or the
> NDIIPP about your ideas of archiving software.
> 
> I hope this information will be helpful to you. Please
> feel very welcome to get back in touch if any of the above
> is not clear, or if you have more questions.
> 
> Sincerely,
>  Ms. Jennifer J. Harbster, MLIS
> Research Specialist
> Science, Technology, and Business Division 
> Library of Congress
> LA 5219, Adams Building
> 101 Independence Ave. SE
> Washington, D.C. 20540
> Tel: 202-707-4751
> Fax: 202-707-1925
> email: jehar at loc.gov


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