From video games and digital art to research tools, scientific models, and legacy file formats, software is what enables the interpretation, use, and preservation of born-digital content. It is not just a tool—it is an essential layer of meaning and function embedded within the materials cultural and academic institutions are charged with stewarding.

The Software Preservation Network (SPN) is a cross-sector, member-driven community committed to making software preservation a core component of digital preservation and cultural memory work. By convening practitioners, researchers, technologists, policy experts, and memory workers, SPN builds field-wide infrastructure, cultivates collective expertise, and amplifies efforts that enable a more equitable digital future.

Community Calendar

Stay connected with the SPN Community Calendar—your hub for upcoming meetings, events, and shared learning opportunities. Whether you’re a member or just getting involved, it’s the best way to keep up with what’s happening across the network. 

Working Groups

PN’s working groups are where collective action takes root.

These groups operate semi-autonomously, driving the network’s research, publications, advocacy, and tool development. Through shared governance and mutual accountability, working groups ensure SPN remains grounded in practice while building toward systemic change.

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  Metadata

  Works to ensure that cultural memory institutions and related entities can find, share, and reuse software through developing local metadata strategies.

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  Law & Policy

  Creates the policy conditions necessary for the long-term preservation of software, particularly focusing on historical, legacy, and culturally significant software.

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  Tech Infrastructure

  Addresses the technological challenges facing software preservation.

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  Research-in-Practice

  Strives to analyze the wide world of software preservation and generate insights that help individuals and institutions practice software preservation.

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  Community Engagement Collaborative

  Fosters an inclusive and vibrant community for SPN members and the broader software preservation sector

EAASI Research Alliance

EAASI (Emulation-as-a-Service Infrastructure) is open-source software that enables libraries, archives, and museums to provide browser-based access to emulated digital collections for students, faculty, researchers, and staff—supporting interactive, controlled access to digital cultural heritage by making emulation easier.

The international EAASI Research Alliance, convened by the Software Preservation Network, is a multinational community of libraries, archives, and museums that utilize the EAASI software to broaden access to digital collections of culture and scholarship. Learn more about EAASI →

Members