Why Join SPN?
Since 2015, the Software Preservation Network (SPN) has worked to create a space where organizations from industry, academia, government, cultural heritage, and the public sphere can contribute their myriad skills and capabilities toward collaborative solutions that will ensure persistent access to software and software-dependent objects. Are you an organization from industry, academia, government, cultural heritage, and the public sphere and want to contribute to this work? Join the Software Preservation Network! Email us to start the process.
Member Benefits
SPN helps you strengthen internal capacity while contributing to a future-proofed, collective infrastructure. Members receive:
- Access to infrastructure tools like EAASI
and participation in pilots - Direct involvement in all Working Groups
and collaborative projects - Early insights into emerging research,
policy updates, and community trends - Opportunities to co-author publications, shape standards, and lead events
- Recognition as an institutional leader in software preservation
- Professional development, mentorship,
and national visibility - A stake in shaping collective infrastructure for long-term access
via the Software Preservation Network:
Gain priority access to EAASI technical pilots, enabling your institution to test new features and tools before public release. Receive expert consultation from the Software Preservation and Emulation unit at Yale Library and peer advisors within the Alliance. Shape roadmaps, policies, workflows, and documentation that reflect your institution’s real-world use cases.
Pool resources and expertise by joining a trusted cohort of libraries, archives, and museums co-developing a platform that serves cross-sector digital preservation needs.
Support faculty, students, and curators by enabling responsible access to legacy digital content across teaching, research, and special collections.
Engage in a collaborative, inclusive initiative that builds capacity across institutions while ensuring shared benefits and governance.
How You Might Participate
Working Groups
Joining one of our working groups! SPN Working Groups are organized around the network’s core activity areas. Working Groups have clearly articulated scopes and action plans that map to SPN’s mission, vision, values, and strategic goals.
EAASI
Through participation in the EAASI Research Alliance, explore how the EAASI software can be used to provide and preserve access to software-dependent collections for educational and research purposes, as well as, influence the trajectory of EAASI’s development!
Collaborate
Collaborate with your fellow members to share strategies on collection development, software preservation, and expanding access within your institution!
Equity-Based Tier Structure
In 2024, SPN implemented membership tiers as a concrete step towards building equity within the software preservation space. The current lack of infrastructure for controlled access to software-dependent digital materials means that those collections are more accessible to some users than others (e.g., remote users or those without the resources to travel). With tiered membership fees, an investment in SPN becomes an investment in reducing economic barriers and increasing equity in the field.
Become a Sponsor
Sponsors are acknowledged as such on the SPN website, mentioned in SPN literature, and have the opportunity to send promotional messages to the SPN member listserv, depending on their tier. Implementation Sponsors will be able to send one promotional message, and Maintenance Sponsors can send two promotional messages and have the opportunity to present a vendor webinar for the SPN community. Sponsors are also invited to learn alongside SPN members in SPN calls, working groups, or in conversations on the member listserv.
Join now!
Email chelle.sanders@softwarepreservationnetwork.org to begin the membership process or request more information.