Overview
The Metadata Working Group ensures that cultural memory institutions and related organizations can effectively find, describe, share, and reuse software. Metadata is essential to long-term preservation and access, and the MetaData Working Group provides the foundation for consistent, practical metadata practices across the software preservation community. The group’s most significant contribution to date is the Software Metadata Recommended Format Guide (SMRF)—a resource that helps institutions develop local metadata strategies for software collections.
Currently in a period of transition, the Metadata Working Group is poised to take on new leadership and shape its next phase of work. With the original cohort stepping down, SPN is actively seeking engaged members to help determine the group’s future direction.
Whether you’re passionate about refining best practices, developing controlled vocabularies, or leading training initiatives, this is a unique opportunity to guide the next chapter of SPN’s metadata work by:
- Maintaining and evolving the Software Metadata Recommended Format Guide (SMRF) to reflect community needs and practical applications.
- Supporting training and education on implementing consistent metadata practices within diverse institutional contexts.
- Exploring emerging challenges and opportunities in software metadata, including controlled vocabularies, metadata interoperability, and documentation of software dependencies.
- Facilitating community-wide collaboration to test and refine approaches to describing software artifacts.
- Creating a foundation for discoverability, access, and reuse by ensuring metadata practices are consistent, sustainable, and widely adopted.
How You Might Engage
How You Might Engage with the MetaData Working Group:
Shape the Future of Metadata Work: Join a group in transition and help define the MWG’s next major project, informed by your expertise and community needs.
Promote Best Practices: Contribute to the ongoing refinement and promotion of SMRF and other community-aligned resources.
Lead Training and Outreach: Help educate others on metadata strategies that improve the accessibility and sustainability of software collections.
Collaborate on Practical Solutions: Bring a practitioner mindset to solve real-world challenges alongside colleagues committed to scalable, effective metadata practices.
If you’re excited about ensuring software is discoverable, usable, and well-documented into the future, we invite you to bring your voice to the Metadata Working Group.
Resources
Software Metadata Recommended Format Guide (SMRF)
Abstract The Software Metadata Recommended Format Guide (SMRF) summarizes and defines the metadata elements recommended by the Software Preservation Network to describe software materials in the context of a wide range of collections. It aims to be adaptable, so that …Continue Software Metadata Recommended Format Guide (SMRF)
Reports, Resources
If you’re passionate about making software preservation more feasible and sustainable through legal and policy work, we encourage you to join the MetaData Working Group and help shape the future of this critical area.