After focusing on open research publications and data, a new challenge is emerging for university libraries: research software, which is at the heart of today’s Open Science stakes . The CCSD and Software Heritage launch a joint program in 2024-2025 to support you in meeting this challenge.
Open Science has profoundly transformed the research landscape, opening up access to publications and data. And software, a necessary tool for many academic fields , is also at the heart of this challenge.
A fragile digital heritage
Research software is essential to the production and reproducibility of scientific work. Yet its preservation and access raise many concerns.
The risks taken by not preserving such software are already very real. At any moment, access to software source code is threatened by a forge closure or a change in service policy. The consequences are far-reaching for academic knowledge, it’s harmful for researchers’ expertise and finally, it’s a missing piece in our collective heritage.
For these reasons, archiving, referencing and guaranteeing long-term access to software source codes, particularly in connection with scientific publications, form axis 3 of the second French National Plan for Open Science. In this context, libraries can play a key role.
A program to support information professionals
While libraries have been addressing the issue of research data for several years, software has its own specificities in terms of preservation, identification and sharing. It’s often said that it takes a village to look after a piece of software.
In order to address this issue,the CCSD and Software Heritage, the universal source code library (Inria, Unesco), have joined their forces. This partnership aims at providing to university libraries and their teams the tools and knowledge they need to participate in research software preservation.
This program provides you with:
- Training to master the challenges of software preservation and availability
- Turnkey resources to raise awareness in your communities
- Opportunities to share feedback on how to integrate a software chapter into an Open Science institutional policy.
Why get involved?
With this program, you contribute to:
- Ensuring the long-term viability of research results by guaranteeing sustainable access to software
- Strengthen the reproducibility of scientific work
- Increase the visibility of your institution’s outputs
- Encourage innovation by facilitating code reuse
- Position your library as a major player in Open Science
Next steps
- September 25: Kickoff webinar to identify key stakes for libraries and find out more about the program (registration required).
- October 9-11: ADBU Congress, stand 32. Come and meet us to talk about your projects!
- December 12: “Parlons Science Ouverte” webinar dedicated to software preservation policy: how to raise awareness and mobilize decision makers, what kind of partnerships to forge? The webinar will provide an opportunity to hear from institutions that have included a “Software” component in their strategy.
Don’t wait any longer to register and join this dynamic!