DLF Cost Working Group

The Cost group’s primary task has traditionally been to collect, aggregate, and share data on the time (and money) it takes to perform various tasks involved in the digitization process to help with project planning and benchmarking. When the group formed at the 2014 DLF Forum, we found few practical resources geared towards helping the community determine the cost of digitization. To help address this gap, we built a Digitization Cost Calculator Digitization Cost Calculator that allows individuals to enter information about a project and get back an estimate of the staffing costs and time needed to complete it based on real data from the community.

Over the last few years, we have expanded our focus to work on broader tools and resources to create a more expansive toolkit that will serve a wider range of digitization programs. We currently have six active subgroups working on the following areas of interest: insourcing vs. outsourcing, a registry for vendors, assessing scans per linear feet, best practices, cost estimation (otherwise known as the feature of the cost calculator). And our final group is working on analyzing the results of our Still Image Digitization Costs Assessment Survey administered in 2021.

Get Involved

Working Group Membership

The Cost Assessment working group always welcomes new members. Members meet regularly to work on different projects. If you are interested in joining, please join us at one of our regular monthly meetings, or contact the co-facilitators.

Standing working meetings

2022 working meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 3pm (eastern) / 2pm (central) / 1pm (mountain) / 12pm (pacific).

See current meeting minutes at Meeting Agendas & Notes 2022 and Meeting Agendas & Notes 2021.

Meeting Connection Information:

Email DLF at info@diglib.org for call-in information.

Group Work

2022 Work

In 2022, our focus has primarily been to support the work of the project subgroups. This includes research and additional data gathering to inform our future (2023) deliverables for use by our peers involved with digitization. The subgroup topics are: insourcing vs. outsourcing, a registry for vendors, assessing scans per linear feet, best practices, cost estimation (otherwise known as the feature of the cost calculator), and survey analysis.

Take our surveys!

If you work in the field of cultural heritage digitization, we'd appreciate your input via any or all of the following surveys through January 31, 2023. The goal of these surveys is to obtain a picture of the current "state of play", so that practitioners who are planning a digitization project or advocating for digitization funding can make decisions informed by community best practices and experiences.

Best Practices:
https://bit.ly/DLFbestpractices

This survey is designed to gather and share experiences about digitization practices and standards adhered to at different institutions.
Time estimate: 15-20 minutes

Equipment Vendors:
https://bit.ly/DLFequipment

This survey is designed to gather and share experiences working with digitization equipment vendors.
Time estimate: 5-10 minutes

Images per Linear Feet (aka, how many images per box did you get):
https://bit.ly/DLFimagesurvey

This survey is designed to gather data about how many images result from different containers, material type, and capture methodology combinations. This data will be used to help institutions during project planning.
Time estimate: 5 minutes

Reformatting Service Vendors:
https://bit.ly/DLFvendorsurvey

This survey is designed to gather and share experiences working with reformatting service vendors.
Time estimate: 5-10 minutes

The data gathered through these surveys will assist us in our efforts to produce resources to inform our colleagues in their work around cost assessment of digitization in the cultural heritage field. The surveys do collect email addresses but will not be shared outside of the DLF Assessment Interest Group unless you agree to share your information.

Thank you for your support!

2021 Work

In 2021, building on the development of the Digitization Cost Calculator, the Cost Group is shifting directions to create a more expansive toolkit that will serve a wider range of digitization labs. Beginning with a survey in early 2021, the Cost group sought information from a variety of digitization stakeholders from across the Digital Library Federation to inform new initiatives. The data collected will be used to help create resources for calculating and assessing institutional commitments necessary for successful digitization projects or starting a digitization program. The group has since formed 6 project subgroups to work on various resources and issues: insourcing vs. outsourcing, a registry for vendors, assessing scans per linear feet, best practices, cost estimation (otherwise known as the feature of the cost calculator), and a survey subgroup to analyze the results of our Still Image Digitization Costs Assessment Survey.

2020 Work

Beginning in 2020, the DLF Cost group began to imagine different ways to assess costs. Much of the year has centered on discussions of how, in addition to the cost calculator, the group can facilitate access to useful tools to organizations who want to plan digitization projects. The group drafted a survey to seek information from a variety of digitization stakeholders from across the field to inform new cost assessment initiatives for the group.

2019 Work

2019 was a year of reflection and transition for the Cost Working Group. Members talked about the future directions of the group and how it would continue to proceed with the cost calculator.

2018 Work

The group’s initial goal for 2018 is to survey the community and conduct user interviews and user testing of the calculator. We plan to use the information captured from the community to help plan and prioritize our future work.

2017 Work

2017 focused on making improvements to the Calculator. We organized the second annual Day of Data II in July to collect additional community data. We also added a number of [calculator enhancements calculator enhancements], including the addition of new fields and new features.

2016 Work

The data definitions authored by the cost assessment working group informed a modified structure of the calculator with expanded capabilities that was completed in 2016 with the assistance of Wayne Graham, Technical Director at CLIR and DLF. We needed at least one set of data in each of the 20 categories, as well as for each type of image capture device and for each level of metadata creation and quality control to support the modified structure. We gathered 85 data submissions in summer of 2016 with a Day of Data campaign, spent the fall reviewing and normalizing submissions, and released the 2.0 version of the calculator on November 7, 2016.

2015 Work

In 2014 a beta version of a Library Digitization Cost Calculator was developed to assist organizations in estimating the costs for digitizing collections and initiate a conversation at the 2014 DLF Forum around cost assessment in digital libraries. The original Digitization Cost Calculator was built as a proof of concept and contains data from only a handful of institutions. In spring of 2014, the Cost Assessment working group of the DLF Assessment Interest Group was subsequently founded. This group was tasked with drafting best practices and guidelines for the collection of time data for various digitization processes, which are used to standardize collection of such data in the field as well as to guide data submissions to the Digital Cost Calculator. The guidelines and definitions are organized according to some of the typical stages of a library project.

In August 2015, the group produced wire frames showing the planned interface and functionality of the Digitization Cost Calculator 2.0, as well as wireframes of how results would appear.

In September 2015, the group released a call for data submissions using the new guidelines and a new data submission form.

Digitization Cost Calculator

The Cost Assessment Working Group's primary project has been to build and maintain the Digitization Cost Calculator. The source code for the calculator is available via the Calculator's GitHub repository. In 2020, we explored different possible outputs that move beyond the cost calculator, but with the same emphasis on helping practitioners and managers better estimate the costs of digital projects going forward.

Publication Information

Project Team

2022

Suzanne Preate, Syracuse University (co-facilitator)
Julia Simic, University of Oregon (co-facilitator)
Christina Deane, University of Virginia
Roberta Dupuis-Devlin, University of Illinois, Chicago
Biz Gallo, Library of Michigan
Chrissy Huhn, University of California, Berkeley
Deirdre Joyce, Syracuse University
Kimberly Kennedy, Northeastern University (coordinator of the Vendor Registry subgroup)
Marissa Kings, University of California, Los Angeles
Elizabeth La Beaud, University of Southern Mississippi
Barb Laufersweiler, University of Oklahoma (coordinator of the Cost Calculator subgroup)
Jenn Morris, MIT
Roel Munoz, Princeton University
Zvi Muskal, United Nations
Kelly Riddle, LA County Public Library
Kathryn Ruddock, University of Calgary
Rachel Senese, Georgia State University (coordinator of the Linear Feet subgroup)
Ian Song, Simon Fraser University
Emma Stanford, Stanford University (coordinator of the Best Practices subgroup)
Larry Wentzel, University of Michigan (coordinator of the Insourcing v. Outsourcing subgroup)
Shannon Willis, Clemson University
Lisa Wright, University of Rochester
Your name, your institution - Join us today!

2021

Shannon Willis, University of North Texas (co-facilitator)
Suzanne Preate, Syracuse University (co-facilitator)
Christina M. Deane, University of Virginia
Roberta Dupuis-Devlin, University of Illinois, Chicago
Laura Gentry, University of Alabama
Wayne Graham, CLIR (technical lead on Cost Calculator)
Chrissy Huhn, University of California, Berkeley
Deirdre Joyce, Syracuse University
Marissa Kings, University of California, Los Angeles
Elizabeth La Beaud, University of Southern Mississippi
Barbara Laufersweiler, University of Oklahoma (coordinator of the Cost Calculator subgroup)
Roel Munoz, Princeton University
Zvi Muskal, United Nations
Timothy Provenzano, University of Arizona (coordinator of the Registry for Vendors subgroup)
Kelly Riddle, LA County Library
Kathryn Ruddock, University of Calgary
Rachel Senese, Georgia State University
Julia Simic, University of Oregon
Emma Stanford, Stanford University (coordinator of the Best Practices subgroup)
Michael Stasiak, New York University
Emily Weirich, University of Arizona (coordinator of the Survey subgroup)
Larry Wentzel, University of Michigan (coordinator of the Insourcing v. Outsourcing subgroup)
Lisa Wright, University of Rochester
Your name, your institution - Join us today!

2020

Deirdre Joyce, Syracuse University (co-facilitator)
Shannon Willis, University of North Texas (co-facilitator)
Wayne Graham, CLIR (technical lead on Cost Calculator)
Christina M. Deane, University of Virginia
Laura Gentry, University of Alabama
Roel Munoz, Princeton University
Suzanne Preate, Syracuse University
Emily Weirich, University of Arizona
Lisa Wright, University of Rochester

2019

Chrissy Rissmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara (co-facilitator)
Sarah Severson, University of Alberta Libraries, (co-facilitator)
Deirdre Joyce, Syracuse University (co-facilitator)
Wayne Graham, CLIR (technical lead on Cost Calculator)
David Bliss, University of Texas at Austin
Greg Davis, Iowa State University
Shannon Willis, University of North Texas Libraries
Gabriella Williams, University of Miami
Dan Zellner, Northwestern University

2018

Joyce Chapman, Duke University (co-coordinator)
Chrissy Rissmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara (co-coordinator)
Wayne Graham, CLIR (technical lead on Cost Calculator)
David Bliss, University of Texas at Austin
Greg Davis, Iowa State University
Ann Hanlon, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Deirdre Joyce, Syracuse University
Sarah Severson, McGill University Library
Gabriella Williams, University of Miami
Dan Zellner, Northwestern University

2017

Joyce Chapman, Duke University (coordinator)
Wayne Graham, CLIR (technical lead on Cost Calculator)
Ann Hanlon, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Deirdre Joyce, Syracuse University
Genya O'Gara, VIVA
Chrissy Rissmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara
Sarah Severson, McGill University Library
Dan Zellner, Northwestern University

2016

Joyce Chapman, Duke University, (coordinator)
Wayne Graham, CLIR (technical lead on Cost Calculator)
Jane Davis, Saint Louis Federal Reserve Bank
Ann Hanlon, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Kinza Masood, University of Utah
Genya O'Gara, VIVA
Chrissy Rissmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara
Sarah Severson, McGill University Library
Emily Shaw, Ohio State University Libraries
Dan Zellner, Northwestern University

2015

Joyce Chapman, Duke University, (coordinator)
Kinza Masood, University of Utah
Chrissy Rissmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dan Zellner, Northwestern University

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