GitHub Inc., an open-source code repository and subsidiary of Microsoft Corp., today announced an expansion of the GitHub Archive Program by which the company sought to preserve open-source software for future generations in the GitHub Arctic Code Vault in Svalbard, Norway.

This new expansion will see the “Greatest Hits” of GitHub, a collection of the most popular code repositories, printed on piqlFilm reels and stored in aesthetically pleasing 3D printed boxes. Alongside these greatest hits, a random sample of roughly 5,000 other repositories will also be included to give future historians a better understanding of the gamut of projects built by today’s developers.

According to GitHub, these 17,000 open-source repositories are the foundation of technology used today across the globe. To ensure the accessibility of these key projects, per the “Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe” principle, the company created four sets.

The chosen locations are the Bodleian Library at Oxford University in England, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (a.k.a. the Library of Alexandria, Egypt), and the Stanford Libraries in California. Additionally, the fourth box will be preserved and displayed at GitHub headquarters.

“Preservation of knowledge is of enormous importance to not only us at the Bodleian Libraries but to society as a whole,” said Richard Ovenden, the Bodley’s librarian. “In this digital age, we must constantly seek new ways of preserving critical information, such as code, Librarians and archivists, the custodians of the past, are also the advance-guards of the future.”

As one of the oldest libraries in Europe, the Bodleian Library has been amassing and protecting human knowledge for centuries and its archives include codicils over thousands of years old. It is the second-largest library in Britain after the British Library, boasting over 12 million items.

“Our community has developed open approaches to software development, data practices, and scholarly communication for years, consequently, it feels like the Bodleian Libraries is a perfect partner with GitHub and the other partner libraries around the world to ensure the preservation of open source software,” Ovenden said.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Africa’s pre-eminent library and modern-day successor to the legendary Library of Alexandria, has become the second location for the GitHub Archive. It is also a center for knowledge, as well as dialogue, learning and understanding among cultures.

“Since its launch as the New Library of Alexandria in 2002, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina has been committed to the preservation of heritage for future generations,” Dr. Mostafa El Feki, director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina, said. “To that end, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina developed several initiatives including web archiving, book digitization and 3D artifact digitization.”

The Stanford Libraries, 24 in all, at Stanford University sit squarely in the heart of Silicon Valley. “The GitHub Archive Program is an excellent partnership model among technology companies, libraries, and other institutions dedicated to the long-term preservation of open source software,” said Michael Keller, vice provost and university librarian for Stanford Libraries. “Today’s announcement is a creative way to encourage others to ensure their history, innovations and code are well conserved for future generations.”

The reels themselves will be stored in beautifully printed boxes commissioned from Alex Maki-Jokela, an artist and engineer whose work blends traditional aesthetics with 3D printing and AI-generated art.

“I wanted to create something that was aesthetically beautiful, and that paid homage to the spirit of open-source software and to the generations of science and engineering that open-source software rests upon,” said Maki-Jokela, who documented the journey on Medium.

“The software and 3D printing tools techniques I used to create the cases are close to the edges of what’s available today,” Maki-Jokela added, “and a lot of the technical symbolism reflects our species’ advances in engineering of the past hundred years. But underneath the artwork, I sought to express stories that are old as time and that will still be true hundreds of years from now, even as the forms of technology change.”

GitHub has further information on the Arctic Code Vault, its Greatest Hits archive and more details at its Archive Program web portal.

Photos: GitHub