Jessica Benner
Liaison Librarian and GIS Specialist
Carnegie Mellon University
Lauren Work
Digital Preservation Librarian
University of Virginia
Wendy Hagenmaier
Digital Curation Archivist
Georgia Tech
Researchers and practitioners in information science and allied fields have long discussed the need for software preservation: preserving software is a prerequisite for keeping and providing access to digital cultural heritage and research, where software is increasingly considered a research product or artifact in itself. This white paper outlines findings from a survey- and interview-based study of software preservation service providers—an expansive category that includes archivists, librarians, preservation specialists, technologists, and other professional roles. The survey and interviews were conducted in 2019 by the SPN Research-in-Practice Working Group. An analysis of the survey and interview data suggests broad support for inter-organizational collaboration in software preservation, despite challenges that surface because of the malleable concepts of “software” that can vary across preservation contexts. Results presented in this presentation include a set of service provider personas, an overview of the conceptions of software that exist in research and memory organizations, a delineation of multilevel barriers to software preservation, and a related set of themes and targeted recommendations.