Lecture on software preservation

Lecture at the Library of Congress

"NIST National Software Reference Laboratory (NSRL) Efforts in
Preserving Software in the Stanford University Libraries (SUL)
Cabrinety Collection"

Douglas White
NSRL Project Leader National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST)
Library of Congress
James Madison Memorial Building
Mumford Room, Sixth floor
Washington, DC
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
2-3 pm

To participate via live webcast, send an email at least 3 days in
advance to Ray Privott, rpri<-at->loc<.>gov

The NSRL is a software collection at NIST used primarily by law
enforcement organizations. The NSRL produces short data profiles
called "hashes," digital fingerprints that uniquely identify a file
on a computer as an unaltered copy of a specific program or other
piece of software in the library's index. These hashes help
determine which files are important as evidence on computers that
have been seized as part of criminal investigations. The NSRL aims
to expand and develop new methods of measuring its holdings to serve
a broader swath of researchers.

A major new infusion of software is from the Stephen M. Cabrinety
Collection in the History of Microcomputing at Stanford University,
one of the world's largest pristine software collections. NIST
renders the digital materials into "images," a word that encompasses
both pictures of the original physical packaging and bit-for-bit
copies of the original software code. NIST will return the originals
to SUL, but will retain the images in the NSRL and plans to make the
software's hashes available. Stanford will make the entire code
available once the intellectual property issues for these commercial
products are addressed. Researchers will then be able to explore the
collection.

For more information, contact

    Fenella France
    Chief, Preservation Research and Testing
    202-707-5525

or visit

    <URL:http://www.loc.gov/preservation/outreach/tops/white/white.html>

Mary Oey
Preservation Directorate
Library of Congress
Washington, DC


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 27:12
                Distributed: Saturday, September 7, 2013
                       Message Id: cdl-27-12-005
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