COPPUL issues statement on open software, open standards, and digital preservation

VICTORIA, B.C., January 3, 2017 — The COPPUL Digital Preservation Network is kicking off 2017 by making clear its commitment to openness and transparency as it continues to build capacity and extend its programs in the field of digital preservation.

From time to time, COPPUL will sponsor the development of software in support of its digital preservation efforts. We agree that any software developed under the auspices of the COPPUL DPN will be made publicly available as open source in order to support the digital preservation community at large, and to enable other organizations to build on our work in a mutually-beneficial way.

When software is open source, when programmers can read and redistribute and modify it, they can improve it, adapt it, and fix bugs. Communities can evolve to share knowledge and innovate beyond what is possible in a single organization. This is especially true when it comes to digital preservation, where both openness, standards, and collaboration are essential if we hope to meet the immense challenges associated with stewarding for the long term an ever-growing corpus of critical digital content.

The Statement
“COPPUL believes that open software is essential for long-term access to preserved content. All software developed by COPPUL in support of its digital preservation activities will be released under a suitable open-source license, respecting the licenses of all software it builds upon. COPPUL is also committed to open standards and protocols in digital preservation, to minimize the risk of vendor lock in and to promote migration between future generations of digital preservation platforms.

COPPUL would like to thanks Mark Jordan at SFU Library for composing this statement.

For more information, please contact:
Corey Davis
Manager, COPPUL DPN
corey@coppul.ca
250-472-5024