Costs
While the costs associated with ensuring long-term access to digital information are difficult to predict quantitatively, they are generally agreed to be significant. Ongoing debate still exists as to the best methods of preserving access to digital information, which makes cost predictions difficult.
In his study for the British Library Research and Innovation Centre (Comparison of methods & costs of digital preservation, Report 106), Tony Hendley offers a cost analysis based on the seven modules which Beagrie and Greenstein identified as being crucial elements in managing digital collections: data creation, data selection and evaluation, data management, resource disclosure, data use, data preservation and rights management.
Hendley points out that for the data centre, archive or library, the cost of promoting good practice to depositors in order to save money at the management and preservation stages can be expected to modify the cost associated with correcting mistakes and bad practice. He also mentions costs associated with evaluating digital resources for acquisition. Other cost areas include: adding documentation (if it has not already been supplied at the creation stage) and managing it; implementing procedures designed to ensure the integrity of the digital material such as refreshing, copying and assessing integrity; and assessing the data structure and making changes to the way it is formatted, compressed and encoded. Data storage costs must be considered, along with costs for enabling resources to be discovered and accessed. Hendley also lists the costs associated with technology emulation, technology preservation and digital information migration strategies which he points out will vary depending upon the degree of functionality which is to be retained.
Beagrie and Greenstein (A Strategic Policy Framework for Creating and Preserving Digital Collections) have pointed out that "the decisions which affect the prospects for and the costs involved in data preservation are distributed across different (and often differently interested) stakeholders". They suggest that if the prospects for digital preservation are to be improved and the cost reduced, different groups of stakeholders need to be aware of the impact their decisions will have on the future preservation of the digital information.
As yet there are few concrete examples of actual costs involved in preserving access to digital information. The National Library of Australia estimates that the tasks involved in acquiring the first version of an online publication makes it five times more labour intensive than a print item (Ensuring Long-Term Access to Online Publications, Margaret Phillips). In this article, Phillips cites a British Library study which suggests that the cost of managing and preserving digital publications over a 25-year period is twenty times that of print publications. (This is based on a level of 500-1,000 new publications per year. At a level of 10,000 publications a year or more, this might perhaps drop to five times). The American Astronomical Society has factored archival maintenance costs into the subscription price of their scholarly journals. Peter Boyce (Scholarly Publishing Exists on the Web, November 1996) reports that the Society plans to update its journals every five years, migrating them to the current standard technology to ensure continued access.
A detailed costing model is included in the Appendix of the final report of the Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information, May 1996. The cost model was developed at the Yale University Library and compares the relative storage and access costs in a traditional library with those of a digital archive. This model is based on 200,000 volumes stored in both paper-based and digital form but assumes 15% annual use for the paper-based model and 20% annual use for the digital model (experience has shown an increased use of material once it exists in digital form). The model proposes that, over a ten year period, the annual digital storage and access costs would decline from an estimated $US372,078 to $US144,549. The paper-based library model estimates annual storage and access costs to increase from $US174,859 to $US248,879. Thus, this model predicts that the costs of maintaining digital objects are greater than paper initially but becomes less over time. Although they are yet to be tested in practice, these figures provide a useful basis for comparison. This model attempts to account for processes, such as migration, that will be necessary throughout the life of the information.
In their October 1996 D-Lib Magazine article, Digital Conversion of Research Library Materials, Steve Chapman and Anne Kenny report that:
'Economic models comparing the digital to the traditional library show that digital will become more cost-effective provided the following four assumptions prove true: that institutions can share digital collections, that digital collections can alleviate the need to support full traditional libraries at the local level, that use will increase with electronic access, and that the long-term value of digital collections will exceed the costs associated with their maintenance and delivery.'
Although the storage of paper and other non-digital media is costly and problematic, these materials have the potential to endure with limited intervention. On the other hand, if digital information is to last, an active maintenance program must be implemented, and the costs of this program must be planned for. If this is not done, technological obsolescence will rapidly render inaccessible much of the information that is created or converted into digital form.
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-

Access in the Future Tense
Greenstein, Daniel; Ivey, Bill; Kenney, Anne R.; Lavoie, Brian; Smith, Abby
(Date Created: Apr 2004)
(United States of America)
- This report, based on papers presented at a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) conference held in May 2003, focuses on preservation and stewardship in the education and research area, including digital preservation of the resources. Preservation topics related to institutional collaboration, cost of maintenance of a digital collection, legal challenges, and policy issues are discussed. Papers include Mapping the Preservation Landscape by Abby Smith ; Library Stewardship in the Digital Age by Daniel Greenstein ; Collection, Preservation and the Changing Resource Base by Anne R. Kenney ; Issues in Intangible Cultural Heritage by Bill Ivey ; Of Mice and Memory : Economically Sustainable Preservation for the Twenty-first Century by Brian Lavoie ; In Support of Long Term Access by Abby Smith.
- ISBN: 193232609x
- http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub126/pub126.pdf
-
Applying the Lessons Learned from Retrospective Archiving to the Digital Archiving Conundrum
Heterick, Bruce
(Date Created: 2002)
(United States of America)
- Since 1995 JSTOR has been converting back issues of paper journals into electronic formats. This article provides an overview of the activities of JSTOR in creating an archive of scholarly journals. Included in the piece is a summary of JSTOR’s mission; an explanation of who contributes and uses the archive; a discussion of principles considered fundamental to digital preservation; and a description of five main challenges in archiving electronic content (rights and responsibilities, content, functionality, migration and business model).
- http://iospress.metapress.com/content/1wfdrr1waf8ddax8/
- Available in Information Services & Use, Vol 22, Issue 2/3, 2002, pp. 113-120, ISSN 0167-5265
-

Archiving Electronic Publications: A report of the NISO/BISG Meeting, January 20, 2002
National Information Standards Organisation (NISO)
(Last Updated: 02 Feb 2002)
- This report from the ALA Midwinter Conference 2002, provides descriptions of three ongoing electronic archiving projects that "examine cost-effective business models for archiving, explore rights issues, and identify the needed standards". Powerpoint slides by presenters from the respective projects area available.
- http://www.niso.org/news/events/niso/past/niso_bisg_rpt/
- Barriers or Stepping Stones? : Impediments to Digital Archiving and Preservation Programs
Webb, Colin
In: CLIR issues
(Date Created: 2003)
(Australia)
- This article provides a brief overview of the impediments that the National Library of Australia has encountered in developing its digital preservation programs, including lack of expertise, costs and a lack of suitable preservation management tools. Mr Webb postulates that these barriers may well appear as stepping stones when viewed retrospectively.
- http://www.clir.org/pubs/issues/issues34.html#webb
-

Benchmarking Conversion Costs: A Report from the Making of America IV Project
Bonn, Maria
In: RLG DigiNews
(Date Created: 15 Oct 2002)
(United States of America)
- A report summarising the findings of the Making of America IV project, undertaken by the University of Michigan University Library with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, in investigating "the costs and methods of using digital technologies for preserving and deploying monograph materials".
- http://digitalarchive.oclc.org/da/ViewObjectMain.jsp?fileid=0000070519
:000006286872&reqid=3897#feature2
- Business models related to Digital Preservation : Final Report
ERPANET
(Date Created: Sep 2004)
- This report covers financial issues related to digital preservation and business models as well as case studies on the practical experiences of specific organisational business models.
- http://www.erpanet.org/events/2004/amsterdam/Amsterdam_Report.pdf
-

Comparison Between Migration and Emulation in Terms of Costs
Kol, Nada; Oltmans, Erik
In: RLG DigiNews
(Date Created: 15 Apr 2005)
(Netherlands)
- This extensive article discusses the major digital preservation strategies of emulation and migration and how they relate to lifecycle management issues and costs. Cost calculation formulae and cost components for both migration and emulation are canvassed. The example of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek's e-Depot is used to contexualise these issues.
- http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/08/08/0000070519/viewer/file9
59.html#article0
-

Cost elements of digital preservation
Russell, Kelly; Weinberger, Ellis (CEDARS)
(Date Created: 31 May 2000)
- This draft article discusses various factors that affect the cost of preserving digital information and has subsequently been incorporated into the various CEDARS Guides available at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/pubconf/pubconf.html.
- http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/documents/CIW01r.html
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Cost to Preserve Authentic Electronic Records in Perpetuity : Comparing Costs Across Cost Models and Cost Frameworks
Sanett, Shelby
In: RLG DigiNews
(Date Created: 15 Aug 2003)
- This article outlines a methodology to evaluate various cost models and frameworks so that the most appropriate preservation strategy can be selected and implemented. The various cost categories are distilled into 5 tables and are evaluated in terms of acquisition and preservation related activities and access related activities.
- http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/08/08/0000070511/viewer/file3
379.html#feature2
- Costs and Business Modelling
Woodyard-Robinson, Deborah
In: Preservation Management of Digital Materials: A Handbook
(Date Created: Mar 2006)
- This is a section of Preservation Management of Digital Materials. It provides information on tools and approaches to developing costs and business models on maintaining digital materials in the long term. The OAIS Reference Model is used so that each process can be linked to a cost source. The factors that have significant influence on costs are outlined.
- http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/inststrat/costs.html
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Costs of Digital Imaging Projects
Puglia, S
In: RLG DigiNews
(Last Updated: 15 Oct 1999)
(United States of America)
- This article examines the digitisation process and assigns costs to digitisation projects including the long-term maintenance of digitised material.
- http://digitalarchive.oclc.org/da/ViewObjectMain.jsp?fileid=0000070519
:000006287381&reqid=15674#feature
- Costs of Digital Preservation
Testbed Digitale Bewaring
(Date Created: May 2005)
(Netherlands)
- This article discusses in detail the cost model developed at the Testbed Digitale Bewaring (Digital Preservation Testbed). Cost indicators, which influence the total cost of preservation, are canvassed. The cost model calculates and compares the costs of the various preservation strategies and several document types, such as email, text, spreadsheets and databases.
- http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl/bibliotheek/docs/CoDPv1.pdf
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Counting the Costs of Digital Preservation : is Repository Storage Affordable?
Chapman, Stephen
In: Journal of Digital Information
(Date Created: 07 May 2003)
(United States of America)
- This article examines pricing associated with repository storage through a comparison of the billable storage rates for analog formats at the Harvard University Library’s to digital formats at the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC). Two case studies are used to identify the relationship between content and medium, as well as integrity and risk management for both textual and photographic formats.
- http://journals.tdl.org/jodi/article/view/jodi-113/99
-
Data Storage Technology Assessment 2002 : Projections Through 2010
Sadashige, Koichi
(Date Created: Mar 2003)
- This report is a follow-up to the “Data Storage Technology Assessment” published in August 2000 and is divided into two main parts. The first part of the report explores the impact the market has on the progress of technology, and lists most important technological events between 2000-2002, such as development of the DVD, optical disc, magnetic tape, hard disc drive and Flash memory. The second part of the report provides an overview of data storage equipment, with emphasis on storage equipment in network environment. Magnetic tape and optical disc technologies are discussed in detail, including various available products. Future trends in the area are outlined for this decade.
- http://www.imation.com/government/nml/pdfs/AP_NMLdoc_DSTAssessment.pdf
- Digital Black Hole
Palm, Jonas
(Date Created: Apr 2006)
(Sweden)
- This article was published as part of the Training for Audiovisual Preservation in Europe (TAPE) programme. The article presents an analysis of costs for digitizing and long-term storage at the Riksarkivet (National Archives, RA) in Stockholm, Sweden.
- http://www.tape-online.net/docs/Palm_Black_Hole.pdf
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Digital Conversion of Research Library Materials : A Case for Full Informational Capture
Chapman, Stephen; Kenney, Anne R.
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: Oct 1996)
- This paper advocates a strategy to select research materials based on their intellectual value, and to define technical requirements for retrospective conversion to digital image form based on their informational content. The authors argue that there are compelling economic, access, and preservation reasons to support this approach.
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/october96/cornell/10chapman.html
- Digital Preservation as an Albatross
Currall, James; Johnson, Claire; McKinney, Peter
(Date Created: May 2006)
- This conference paper is about the concept of value in digital preservation and how up to this time it has not been considered enough when developing business cases for digital preservaiton projects. The authors maintain that value should be considered as a counterpoint to costs.
- https://dspace.gla.ac.uk/handle/1905/535
- Paper presented at the Archiving 2006 ;May 23-26 2006, Ottawa
-
Digitizing Dissertations for an Institutional Repository : A Process and Cost Analysis
Palmer, Lisa A.; Piorun, Mary
(Date Created: Jul 2008)
(United States of America)
- "This paper describes the Lamar Soutter Library's process and costs associated with digitizing 300 doctoral dissertations for a newly implemented institutional repository at the University of Massachusetts Medical School."
- http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2479051
- Journal of the Medical Library Association, 2008 July, 96(3):223-229 and through PubMed
-
DPC Forum: Preservation of e-Learning Materials and Cost Models for Digital Preservation
Granger, Stewart
(Date Created: 15 Oct 2002)
(United Kingdom)
- A report and summary of the Digital Preservation Coalition's forum on the preservation of electronic learning materials and digital preservation cost models, held in London on 15th October, 2002. Links to the presentation slides (in PDF format) are available.
- http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/events/elearning.html
- Evaluating Preservation Strategies for Audio and Video Files
Pavuza, Franz ; Rauber, Andreas; Rauch, Carl; Strodl, Stephan
(Date Created: May 2005)
- This article describes the decision making workflow using Utility Analysis as a way of comparing, ranking and evaluating the various preservation strategies for audio and video files. Two case studies are used to illustrate the process. A more detailed discussion of Utility Analysis as it applies to digital preservation can be found at Preserving Digital Media : Towards a Preservation Solution Evaluation Metric.
- http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~andi/publications/pdf/rau_digrep05.pdf
- Proceedings of the DELOS Workshop on Digital Repositories: Interoperability and Common Services, May 11-13 2005, Heraklion, Greece.
-
Exploring Charging Models for Digital Cultural Heritage
Deegan, Marilyn; Tanner, Simon
In: Ariadne
(Date Created: 14 Jan 2003)
- This article reports on a study into the pricing practices and policies in moving from analogue to digital photographic services, as surveyed from 51 UK and European cultural institutions. While creation and distribution of digital products is considered cheaper, none of the surveyed institutions fully recovered the costs of creation, management, storage and service provision from item sales. The article also notes that the costs of digital preservation were not able to be quantified or factored into sale price.
- http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue34/tanner/
-

Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
(Date Created: 29 Mar 2002)
- This is ICPSR's (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) guide to the task of preparing data for deposit in a public archive. It is mostly focused on quantitative data generated by statistical software like SPSS or SAS.
- http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/access/dataprep.pdf
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How Much Does It Cost? The LIFE Project - Costing Models for Digital Curation and Preservation
Davies, Richard; Ayris, Paul; McLeod, Rory; Shenton, Helen; Wheatley, Paul
(Date Created: 2007)
(United Kingdom)
- This article gives an update on the LIFE project and an overview of the LIFE methodology and case studies conducted in the first phase. It also introduces the second phase LIFE2.
- http://liber.library.uu.nl/publish/issues/2007-3_4/index.html?000210
- Liber Quarterly Vol 17 (2007) no. 3/4. Also available in PDF
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Incentives to Preserve Digital Material : Roles, Scenarios and Economic Decision-Making
Lavoie, Brian F.
(Date Created: Apr 2003)
- "Economic issues are a principal component of the research agenda for digital preservation. Economics is, fundamentally, about incentives, so a study of the economics of digital preservation should begin with an examination of the incentives to preserve. Appropriate incentives are fundamental to the development of economically sustainable digital preservation activities. This white paper identifies the key decision-making roles in the digital preservation process, characterizes a core set of organizational models under which decision-makers might undertake digital preservation, and examines the implications of these models for the incentives to preserve digital materials."
- http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/digipres/incentives-dp.pdf
- Investing in Value : a Perspective on Digital Preservation
Currall, James; McKinney, Peter
In: D-Lib magazine
(Date Created: Apr 2006)
- This article outlines the difficulties in assigning a value to information objects. It describes the espida project (An Effective Strategic model for the Preservation and disposal of Institutional Assets) which is funded by the JISC and based at the University of Glasgow. Espida is working on producing a value model for digital assets so that digital preservation can be seen as an investment decision where the returns can take many different forms.
- http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april06/mckinney/04mckinney.html
- Investment in an Intangible Asset
Hunter, Laurie
In: DCC Digital Curation Manual
(Date Created: Jul 2006)
- This instalment of the Digital Curation Manual provides strategies in presenting effective arguments for funding bodies on the merits of ditial preservation and digital curation. Risks associated with loss of data are identified and the
benefits associated with preserving access to data are also discussed. Models for long-term maintenance and sustainability and collaborative approaches to developing models are detailed.
- http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/curation-manual/chapters/intangible-asse
t/
- Available in pdf or html
- The LIFE Model v1.1. Discussion Paper.
Ayris, Paul; Davies, Richard; Mcleod, Rory; Shenton, Helen; Wheatley, Paul
(Date Created: Oct 2007)
(United Kingdom)
- This discussion paper is a revision of the LIFE model which was first published in 2006. The model outlines common processes applied to digital objects during their lifecycle. Issued for public comment comments close 8 Jan 2008.
- http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/archive/00004831/
- LIFE Project Research Review : Mapping the Landscape, Riding a Life Cycle
Watson, James
(Date Created: Nov 2005)
(United States of America)
- LIFE (Life Cycle Infomation for E-Literature) is a project looking at the life cycle of the collection and preservation of digital material. The project is a collaboration between University College London (UCL) Library Services and the British Library. This is the final draft of the first phase of the LIFE project. It comprises a literature and resource review of cost models applicable to digital preservation, including various library based cost models. The article focuses on the concept of Life Cycle Costing (LCC).
- http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ls/lifeproject/documentation/review.pdf
- Also available in .doc format
- Lifecycle Information for E-literature : Full Report from the LIFE Project
Ayris, P.; McLeod, R.; Wheatley, P.
(Date Created: Aug 2006)
(United Kingdom)
- The University College London (UCL) and the British Library (BL) have completed phase 1 of the LIFE project, a JISC funded project examining the costing of digital preservation activities. The LIFE Project developed a methodology for analysing and costing the elements of a digital object's lifecycle, including preservation. It then tested and refined this methodology by applying it to a number of case studies. These include Voluntary Deposit of e-materials at the BL, Web Archiving at the BL, and commercial eJournals at UCL. The report also includes the generic LIFE preservation model which is a tool for estimating the cost of various preservation activities. The report also identifies areas for future work
- http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/archive/00001854/01/LifeProjMaster.pdf
- Perils of Digital Preservation
Ford, Piers
(Date Created: 10 Jan 2003)
- In this news article the author uses the example of the BBC's Domesday Project to illustrate the costs, software and hardware issues and rights management problems of a digital preservation project. He suggests that it is problematic and inefficient to preserve retrospectively and that digital preservation planning and strategies should be incorporated into the overall management of the data from its creation onwards.
- http://www.vnunet.com/features/1137956
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Preserving Digital Information : Final Report and Recommendations
Garrett, John (co-chair); Task Force on Archiving of Digital Information; Waters, Donald (chair)
(Date Created: 20 May 1996)
- This report arose from a decision at the end of 1994 by the Commission on Preservation and Access (CPA) and the Research Libraries Group (RLG) to create a Task Force charged with investigating and recommending means to ensure "continued access indefinitely into the future of records stored in digital electronic form." This was a watershed exercise which generated thoughtful discussion on this topic worldwide.
- http://www.oclc.org/programs/ourwork/past/digpresstudy/final-report.pd
f
- Preserving Digital Media : Towards a Preservation Solution Evaluation Metric
Rauber, Andreas; Rauch, Carl
(Date Created: 2004)
- This paper analyses the suitability of Utility Analysis as a way of comparing, ranking, evaluating and costing various digital preservation solutions such as emulation and migration. Utility Analysis has been used for many years in other areas such as public utility costing and this approach has been adapted for use within the preservation sphere. The article demonstrates the usability of utility analysis by using two examples. The alternatives are measured, tested and compared.
- http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~rauch/Rau04_Utility_Analysis.pdf
-

Preserving Europe's Memory: PRESTO shows how to preserve Multi-media in the most cost-effective fashion
Richard Wright
In: Cultivate Interactive
(Last Updated: 06 Jan 2003)
- This article outlines the PRESTO project which is looking at multimedia preservation issues for both analogue and digital media. The project is developing cost-effective and collaborative technologies and workflows for preserving multimedia.
- http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue7/presto/
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Preserving Oral History Recordings
Bradley, Kevin; Webb, Colin
In: Ariadne
(Date Created: Mar 1997)
(Australia)
- This paper discusses the practical realities, and implications, of introducing digital technology into the sound preservation functions of the National Library of Australia.
- http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue8/oral-history/
-
Scholarly Publishing Exists on the Web: We don't need CD-ROMs
Boyce, Peter
(Last Updated: 12 Nov 1998)
- The author advocates scholarly publishing on the web. He discusses archiving issues and cites examples from the American Astronomical Society.
- http://www.aas.org/~pboyce/epubs/jasp-r.html
- Selective Archiving of Web Resources : A Study of Acquisition Costs at the National Library of Australia
Phillips, Margaret E.
In: RLG DigiNews
(Date Created: 16 Jun 2005)
(Australia)
- This article examines the costs of maintaining PANDORA : Australia's web archive at the National Library of Australia. In outlining the costs, the article also describes the purpose, history, activities and staffing of PANDORA. It finds that acquiring Web publications is considerably more expensive than printed publications and describes ways in which the costs could be reduced.
- http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/08/08/0000070511/viewer/file5
58.html#article0
- Survey of Digital Cultural Heritage Initiatives and Their Sustainability Concerns
Zorich, Diane M.
(Date Created: Jun 2003)
(United States of America)
- This report is based on a survey of North American Digital Cultural Heritage Initiatives (DCHIs) conducted in 2002. The purpose of the survey was to identify the scope, financing, organizational structure, and sustainability of DCHIs. Issues including preservation of digital resources and intellectual property rights are discussed.
- http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub118/contents.html
- Utility Analysis : Making Influences on the Final Decision Better Visible
Rauch, Carl
(Date Created: Jun 2004)
- Utitlity Analysis is a tool that enables the comparison, ranking evaluation of preservation options for a particular preservation issue. This paper describes a refinement of Utility Analysis which makes decision making more transparent and accurate. An example is used to illustrate the process. A more detailed discussion of Utility Analysis as it applies to digital preservation can be found at Preserving Digital Media : Towards a Preservation Solution Evaluation Metric
- http://www.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~rauch/rau_objtree_extension
-

'Why Do We Need to Keep This in Print? It's on the Web ...': A Review of Electronic Archiving Issues and Problems
Warner, Dorothy
(Date Created: Mar 2002)
(United States of America)
- This article from Progressive Librarian raises some issues surrounding archiving digital information and urges action by stakeholders to avoid loss. It also provides an overview of some standards, cost models and approaches to digital preservation being investigated by various projects.
- http://libr.org/pl/19-20_Warner.html
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Yale Electronic Archive - One Year of Progress: Report on the Digital Preservation Planning Project
Yale University Library
(Date Created: Feb 2002)
(United States of America)
- A report on the progress of the collaborative planning effort between Yale University Library and Elsevier Science for the archiving of electronic journals, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The planning project sought to "understand better the scope and scale of digital journal preservation" and "identify practical next steps" for a large collection of commercially published journals. The report recognises the need for co-operative efforts and standards and relationships between publishers and archivers, and discusses the building of a prototype archive. The report is available in PDF format, either as sections or as a complete document.
- http://www.library.yale.edu/~okerson/yea/
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-

Comparison of Methods & Costs of Digital Preservation
Hendley, Tony
(Date Created: 1998)
- British Library Research and Innovation Report 106. This report was commissioned as part of the British national strategy for digital information. It includes a decision model to assess ten categories of digital resources to determine the most appropriate method of long-term preservation for each; and a cost model for comparing the costs of the preferred methods of preservation for each category of digital resource.
- ISSN: 1366-8218
- ISBN: 0 7123 9713 2
- http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/tavistock/hendley/hendley.
html
- May be purchased as a photocopy or microfiche from the British Thesis Service, British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshore, LS23 7BQ, UK.
-

JISC/NPO Studies on the Preservation of Electronic Materials: A Framework of Data Types and Formats, and Issues Affecting the Long Term Preservation of Digital Material
Bennett, John C.
(Last Updated: 23 May 1999)
(United Kingdom)
- This study is part of a wider program of studies funded by JISC and guided by the (UK) Digital Archive Working Group. The report attempts to develop a framework to assist in the management of the resolution of issues associated with long-term digital preservation. One of the study's recommendations is a scorecard approach to reduce the complexity of preservation decisions and to help initiate solutions.
- ISBN: 0 7123 3312 6
- http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/papers/supporting/pdf/rept011.pdf
- British Library Research and Innovation Report No. 50
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LIFE2 Final Project Report
Ayris, Paul; Davies, Richard; McLeod, Rory; Miao, Rui; Shenton, Helen; Wheatley, Paul
(Date Created: Aug 2008)
(United Kingdom)
- This report (129 p.) details the work of the LIFE2 project which ran from March 2007 to August 2008. Included are discussion on the methodology, models and economics and reports on LIFE case studies - (SHERPA DP, SHERPA LEAP and the British Library Newspapers Case studies).
- http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/11758/
-

Preservation Management of Digital Materials: A Handbook
Beagrie, Neil, JISC Digital Preservation Focus; Jones, Maggie, Arts and Humanities Data Service
(Regularly Updated)
(United Kingdom)
- A 145 page handbook on the preservation management of digital materials compiled by staff from the JISC Digital Preservation Focus and the Arts and Humanities Data Service. Aimed at a broad audience, it includes sections containing definitions and issues, institutional strategies, organisational activities and media and formats. It gives examples of good practice and research initiatives from around the world and makes extensive use of decision trees and checklists as a way of assisting the reader to consider the issues.
- ISBN: 0 7123 0886 5
- http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/handbook/index.html
- An order form for the revised print version is now available from this site; an online version will be made available from 2002.
-

Preserving and Sharing Statistical Material
Royal Statistical Society; UK Data Archive
(Date Created: 2002)
(United Kingdom)
- This booklet is aimed at promoting the preservation and sharing of electronic data. it also discusses what should be preserved and includes the RSS Code of Best Practice on the Preservation and Sharing of Statistical Material.
- ISBN: 0-906805-02-3
- http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news/publications/PreservingSharing.pdf
- Using Emulation to Preserve Digital Documents
Rothenberg, Jeff
(Date Created: Jul 2000)
(Netherlands)
- This book considers the problem of how to preserve digital documents from the perspective of the deposit library community. It discusses the theoretical and practical issues involved in using emulation as the preferred preservation strategy. There is also a theoretical cost comparison of emulation and migration.
- ISBN: 906259145-0
- Koninklijke Bibliotheek, PO Box 90407, 2509 LK The Hague, email: info@kb.nl
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- Business Models Related to Digital Preservation : ERPANET Seminar
20 - 22 Sep 2004
, Netherlands Institute for Archival Education and Research, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Has papers: Business models related to Digital Preservation : Final Report
- Papers and presentations available from the website.
- http://www.erpanet.org/events/2004/amsterdam/index.php
- Digital Curation Centre (DCC) and Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) Joint Workshop on Digital Curation Cost Models
26 Jul 2005
, British Library, London
(United Kingdom)
- Summary and presentations available from the website
- http://www.dpconline.org/graphics/events/050726workshop.html
- LIFE2 Project Conference
23 Jun 2008
, British Library Conference Centre
LIFE Project, London, UK
(United Kingdom)
- "The conference will cover the results from the LIFE2 Project’s case studies which examined the lifecycle costs for Digital repositories, Primary data and Digitised newspapers. Other topics will include mapping digital and analogue lifecycles, as well as an updated LIFE costing model and how to go about using the LIFE model in your own institutions. The conference will be of interest to the digital preservation community and repository managers, as well as anyone with an interest in the costs associated with digital collections." Presentations are available from the website.
- http://www.life.ac.uk/2/conference.shtml
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Organisations and Websites
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- LIFE : Life Cycle Information for E-Literature
LIFE
(Regularly Updated)
(United Kingdom)
- This is the website of a collaboration project between University College London (UCL) Library Services and the British Library and funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). Using the collections at UCL and the British Library, the project examines the life cycles and costs over the long term of digital collections. The first phase of the project LIFE1 culminated with a conference held on 20 April 2006. The second phase LIFE2 will run from March 2007 to August 2008. The
- http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ls/lifeproject/
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Policies, Strategies & Guidelines
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- CEDARS Guide to Digital Collection Management
University of Leeds
(Date Created: Mar 2002)
(United Kingdom)
- This report will provide guidance for collection managers on the creation or enhancement of policies to address retention, and preservation of digital materials. For the purposes of this report, collection management is intended to reflect a more demanding concept than simply collection development, to encompass "policies on the housing, preservation, storage, weeding and discard of stock."
- http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/guideto/collmanagement/
- Comparative Study of e-journal Archiving Solutions : A JISC Funded Investigation
Beagrie, Neil; Chruszcz, Julia; Jones, Maggie; Morrow, Terry
(Date Created: May 2008)
(United Kingdom)
- This report results from a call by the JISC in January 2008 for a Comparative Study of e-Journal Archiving Solutions. It is intended for wide use by institutions to "inform policies and investment in e-journal archiving solutions.” and to “ inform negotiations undertaken by JISC Collections and NESLi2 when seeking publishers’ compliance to deposit content with at least one e-journal archiving solution.”
The report "contains chapters covering Approaches to e-journal preservation, Publisher licensing and legal deposit, Comparisons of Six Current e-Journal Archiving Programmes (LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, Portico, the KB e-depot, OCLC's Electronic Collections Online, and the British Library's e-journal Digital Archive), Practical experience of e-journal archiving solutions, Evaluation of four common scenarios/trigger events, and Criteria for judging relevance and value of new archiving initiatives. There are two appendices on Publisher Participation in different programmes."
- http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/media/documents/jisc_collections/rep
orts/e_journals_archiving_%20solutions_report_final_080518.pdf
- Cost Orientation Tool
ERPANET
(Date Created: Sep 2003)
- Information regarding the costs involved with digital preservation are generally lacking. This instrument assists organisations in identifying potential costs and provides a useful table of factors, cost impact and considerations. A bibliography is also featured.
- http://www.erpanet.org/guidance/docs/ERPANETCostingTool.pdf
- From Digital Volatility to Digital Permanence : Costmodel
Testbed Digitale Bewaring
(Date Created: 05 Apr 2005)
(Netherlands)
- Developed by the Testbed Digitale Bewaring (Digital Preservation Testbed), this is a cost model in an Excel spreadsheet for a dedicated archive and preservation facility.The spreadsheet includes staff, facility and capital costs.
- http://www.digitaleduurzaamheid.nl/bibliotheek/docs/Kostenmodel_in_Exc
el_versie_1.0_(final).xls
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Edinburgh University Library Digital Archives Research Project: A Report and Recommendations
Semple, Najla
(Date Created: 29 May 2002)
(United Kingdom)
- This is the final report from a project initiated by the Special Collections Department of Edinburgh University Library. The project aimed to act as a focus for raising digital preservation issues across the whole university. This report presents guidelines and recommendations for the preservation of digital information in the University environment.
- http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/sites/digpres/dpreport.pdf
- Handbook of Cost Reduction in Digitisation
Tanner, Simon
(Date Created: Sep 2006)
- This document developed under the framework of the MINERVA network provides guidance on reducing costs in digitisation projects. Reducing labour costs, increasing productivity, throughput and efficiency and adding value by improving quality and the use of automation at every stage are recommended.
- http://www.minervaeurope.org/publications/CostReductioninDigitisation_
v1_0610.pdf
- Available in PDF and in print (see http://www.minervaeurope.org/publications/costreduction.htm)
- Investment in an Intangible Asset
Hunter, Laurie
In: DCC Digital Curation Manual
(Date Created: Jul 2006)
- This instalment of the Digital Curation Manual provides strategies in presenting effective arguments for funding bodies on the merits of ditial preservation and digital curation. Risks associated with loss of data are identified and the
benefits associated with preserving access to data are also discussed. Models for long-term maintenance and sustainability and collaborative approaches to developing models are detailed.
- http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resource/curation-manual/chapters/intangible-asse
t/
- Available in pdf or html
- Keeping Research Data Safe
Beagrie, Neil; Chruszcz, Julia; Lavoie, Brian
(Date Created: 12 May 2008)
(United Kingdom)
- This JISC study investigated the medium to long term costs to higher education institutions of the preservation of research data and developed guidance on these issues. The study has developed a costing methodology and will assist in strategy development for higher education institutions.
- http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/keepingresearchdatasaf
e.aspx
- Executive summary and pdf of report available from website.
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Preserving and Sharing Statistical Material
Royal Statistical Society; UK Data Archive
(Date Created: 2002)
(United Kingdom)
- This booklet is aimed at promoting the preservation and sharing of electronic data. it also discusses what should be preserved and includes the RSS Code of Best Practice on the Preservation and Sharing of Statistical Material.
- ISBN: 0-906805-02-3
- http://www.data-archive.ac.uk/news/publications/PreservingSharing.pdf
-

PRESTO - IST-1999-20013: Key Links System Specification Document
PrestoSpace Consortium
(Last Updated: 26 Jun 2001)
- A 135 page report developed from the findings of a preservation survey of audio-visual materials in European Broadcast Archives. Included is information on the system requirements, technological improvements, processing methodologies and metadata specifications for digitally archiving film, audio and video. There is also a useful glossary.
- http://presto.joanneum.ac.at/Public/D32.pdf
-
Strategic Policy Framework for Creating and Preserving Digital Collections (Version 5.0)
Beagrie, Neil; Greenstein, Daniel; Pressler, Christopher
(Date Created: Jul 2001)
(United Kingdom)
- Available in either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format, this study presents fourteen recommendations in the areas of long-term digital preservation, standards, the policy framework, and future research. Six case studies highlight some of the real-life considerations concerning digital preservation.
- http://ahds.ac.uk/strategic.pdf
-

Towards Collection Management Guidance
Weinberger, Ellis
(Date Created: 01 Jun 2000)
(United Kingdom)
- This CEDARS document contains guidelines for the modification of collection management policies to help ensure preservation of digital objects.
- http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/colman/CIW02r.html
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Projects and Case Studies
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-
Digitizing Dissertations for an Institutional Repository : A Process and Cost Analysis
Palmer, Lisa A.; Piorun, Mary
(Date Created: Jul 2008)
(United States of America)
- "This paper describes the Lamar Soutter Library's process and costs associated with digitizing 300 doctoral dissertations for a newly implemented institutional repository at the University of Massachusetts Medical School."
- http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2479051
- Journal of the Medical Library Association, 2008 July, 96(3):223-229 and through PubMed
- Economics of Digital Preservation : a Project of OCLC Research
OCLC
(Date Created: 2002)
- This site provides an overview of the economic issues associated with digital preservation and proposes a project which will investigate foundational issues associated with the economics of digital preservation. It provides information on the scope and methodology of the project, including a link to the white paper 'The Incentives to Preserve Digital Materials: Roles, Scenarios, and Economic Decision-Making' by Brian Lavoie, which is the first major step in this project.
- http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/digipres/economics.shtm
-

Experiences and Conclusions From a Pilot Study : Web Archiving of the District and County Elections 2001 : Final Report for the Pilot Project "netarkivet.dk"
Brugger, Niels; Carlsen, Soren Vejrup ; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Birte; Finnemann, Niels Ole; Fonss-Jorgensen, Eva; Hendriksen, Birgit; von Hielmcrone, Harald
(Date Created: Feb 2003)
(Denmark)
- This is the final report of a project which began in 2001. The report discusses the issues arising from using existing software to harvest and test material relating to Danish elections, including costs and financing, storage and archiving, methods of harvesting and legal issues.
- http://netarkivet.dk/publikationer/webark-final-rapport-2003.pdf
- JSTOR (Journal Storage): The Scholarly Journal Archive
JSTOR Journal Storage
(Regularly Updated)
(United States of America)
- One of JSTOR's aims is to build a reliable and comprehensive archive of important scholarly journal literature. Back issues of paper journals have been converted into electronic formats allowing savings in space (and in capital costs associated with that space) while simultaneously improving access to the journal content. It is also hoped that the project may offer a solution to preservation problems associated with storing paper volumes.
- http://www.jstor.org/
- LIFE : Life Cycle Information for E-Literature
LIFE
(Regularly Updated)
(United Kingdom)
- This is the website of a collaboration project between University College London (UCL) Library Services and the British Library and funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). Using the collections at UCL and the British Library, the project examines the life cycles and costs over the long term of digital collections. The first phase of the project LIFE1 culminated with a conference held on 20 April 2006. The second phase LIFE2 will run from March 2007 to August 2008. The
- http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ls/lifeproject/
- Lifecycle Information for E-literature : Full Report from the LIFE Project
Ayris, P.; McLeod, R.; Wheatley, P.
(Date Created: Aug 2006)
(United Kingdom)
- The University College London (UCL) and the British Library (BL) have completed phase 1 of the LIFE project, a JISC funded project examining the costing of digital preservation activities. The LIFE Project developed a methodology for analysing and costing the elements of a digital object's lifecycle, including preservation. It then tested and refined this methodology by applying it to a number of case studies. These include Voluntary Deposit of e-materials at the BL, Web Archiving at the BL, and commercial eJournals at UCL. The report also includes the generic LIFE preservation model which is a tool for estimating the cost of various preservation activities. The report also identifies areas for future work
- http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/archive/00001854/01/LifeProjMaster.pdf
- NUMERIC
(Date Created: Apr 2007)
- NUMERIC is a 2 year project of the European Commission ending in April 2009 that aims" to develop and test a framework and associated methods for collecting and analysing data relating to digitisation activities of materials held by libraries, archives and museums in the EU. The measures relate to the costs to the institutions concerned, and the progress made towards both preserving and making their materials accessible on-line."
- http://www.numeric.ws/
-

PRESTO: Preservation Technology for Broadcast Archives
Project manager: Richard Wright, BBC
(Last Updated: 02 Jan 2003)
- The PRESTO project is one of the European Union Information Society Technology (IST) sponsored intiatives looking at a range of preservation issues and prospective outcomes for digital and analogue film, audio and video archival materials. The intial partners are several major European public broadcast archives and commercial research partners. The aims of the project are to evaluate the preservation status of collected audio-visual materials, to establish what resources and technologies are utilised or are required for cost-effective preservation, to develop a preservation process chain of automated copying and playback with the necessary quality control and metadata management and thirdly to evaluate and test the new methodologies and disseminate results. The project started in late 2000 has a lifetime until mid 2002. It was followed in 2004 by the PRESTO Space project.
- http://presto.joanneum.ac.at/index.asp
-

Web-Based Government Information : Evaluating Solutions for Capture, Curation and Preservation
Christenson, Heather; Colvin, Jennifer; Cruse, Patricia; Eckman, Charles; Greenstein, Daniel; Hutton, Cate; Kunze, John
(Date Created: Nov 2003)
(United States of America)
- Set within the context of the USA, this project report addresses the roles of libraries and other memory institutions in preserving web-based government information. The report outlines the methodology employed by the project team, including an extensive literature review and analysis, a demographic review of the dot-gov domain and surveys of existing web-archiving initiatives around the world. It also addresses the challenges in the capture, curation, and persistent management of web-based materials; discusses a route map for service implementation and looks at cost elements.
- http://www.cdlib.org/programs/Web-based_archiving_mellon_Final.pdf
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- Espida Bibliography
Espida
(Last Updated: Jan 2007)
(United Kingdom)
- This bibliography was produced as part of the Espida (An Effective Strategic Model for the Preservation and Disposal of Institutional Assets) project. It has sections on cultural heritage & digital preservation, Economics, Knowledge management, risk, strategic & business management and value. The ESPIDA project was completed in January 2007.
- http://www.gla.ac.uk/espida/documents/espida_bibliography.pdf
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-

PRESTO - IST-1999-20013: Key Links System Specification Document
PrestoSpace Consortium
(Last Updated: 26 Jun 2001)
- A 135 page report developed from the findings of a preservation survey of audio-visual materials in European Broadcast Archives. Included is information on the system requirements, technological improvements, processing methodologies and metadata specifications for digitally archiving film, audio and video. There is also a useful glossary.
- http://presto.joanneum.ac.at/Public/D32.pdf
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- An analysis of the State-of-the-art in Measuring the
Progress of Digitisation of Cultural Materials: Desk Research Findings Report
Manzuch, Zinaida
(Date Created: 10 Sep 2007)
- This report analyses a number of surveys related to digitisation in Europe and worldwide. It aims to identify and evaluate trends, experiences and pitfalls in measuring digitisation, to assist design and development of frameworks to monitor progress in digitsation.
- http://www.numeric.ws/uploaded_files/NUMERIC_Desktop_Research_on_Digit
isation_Studies26102007114936.pdf
- Survey of Digital Cultural Heritage Initiatives and Their Sustainability Concerns
Zorich, Diane M.
(Date Created: Jun 2003)
(United States of America)
- This report is based on a survey of North American Digital Cultural Heritage Initiatives (DCHIs) conducted in 2002. The purpose of the survey was to identify the scope, financing, organizational structure, and sustainability of DCHIs. Issues including preservation of digital resources and intellectual property rights are discussed.
- http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub118/contents.html
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Related Topics: Archiving | Authenticity
| Roles and responsibilities
| Selection
| Storage
| Technological obsolescence
Broader Topic:
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