Determining Digital Preservation Costs

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Determining DP Costs

erpaTraining Business Models related to Digital
Preservation, Amsterdam, 20-22 September
2004 Maggie Jones Executive Secretary Digital
Preservation Coalition
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Summary of Presentation

• Difficulties in trying to accurately assess costs
• A Case Study of how one organisation started its
  digital archive
• Some parallels with traditional preservation/key
  differences
• Factors influencing affordability
• Some examples from the UK

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How Much Will It Cost?

• How long is a piece of string ?
• Variables size and complexity of digital
  collections (e.g. how many formats? How many are
  obsolete?)
• There is little reliable data on costs
• At this early stage of development its certain
  to cost more (e.g. difficult to achieve economies
  of scale still requires a lot of manual
  intervention etc.)

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Some Assumptions

• Digital preservation will cost more than
  traditional preservation because
• The need to actively manage inevitable changes in
  technology
• Lack of standardisation in both the resources
  themselves and licensing agreements
• The as yet unresolved means of reliably and
  accurately rendering certain digital
  publications
• for some time to come digital preservation may
  be an additional cost
• Handbook of Digital Preservation Management
• lthttp//www.dpconline.org/graphics/stratoverview.h
  tmlhow2gt

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Some useful analogies

• We havent always been clear about traditional
  preservation costs
• Well never have enough funding to do
  everything - Benign neglect isnt free!
• Collaboration can help to reduce costs
• There are many different approaches possible no
  definitive right solution
• Learn as we go

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Some less useful analogies

• Comparisons between the costs of traditional and
  digital preservation
• They can be both misleading and frightening
• E.g. it may cost X times as much to preserve
  digital materials
• it is virtually impossible to neatly segregate
  costs which are only for digital preservation
  from costs which are only about access.
• Handbook of Digital Preservation Management (loc
  cit)

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Information on Cost Factors

• All five Cedars Guides included a section on
  costs
• lthttp//www.leeds.ac.uk/cedars/pubconf/pubconf.htm
  lgt
• Guide to Collection Management includes upfront
  and ongoing cost factors
• It is also worth noting that any significant
  time delay between the creation of a digital
  object and its ingest into a repository may have
  adverse costs implications, as there is a
  possibility that significant information will be
  lost.
• Day(2002) Cedars Guide to Preservation Metadata

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Staff Costs

• Our analysis of costs in various repositories
  showed consistently that staff costs represent
  between 69 and 82 of the total
• Lord and Macdonald (2003) e-Science Curation
  report.
• lthttp//www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?nameproject_esci
  encegt

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Uncharted waters

• We cant know exactly how much it costs to
  preserve digital materials over time
• There are too many variables to make meaningful
  comparisons
• Its too early to be precise
• We need to focus on how to make sure its
  affordable
• What factors will reduce costs over time?

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A Case Study
The National Library of Australia and the
efficiency dividend

• No prospect of additional funds

• No clear idea on how much it was likely to cost

• Knowledge that in the short-term it would be much
  
• less efficient than preserving print collections

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Lessons Learned from NLA

• Organisational will is the key determining factor
  (where theres a will theres a way)

• The support of senior executive personnel is
  crucial
• (it must be seen as a strategic priority)

• Start with what is achievable and progress from
  there

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Motivating Factors 1

• For national libraries and archives
• Its a logical progression from their other
  preservation responsibilities
• Its not something that can be ignored, no matter
  what the cost

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Motivating Factors 2

• For other organisations
• An automatic preservation role isnt assumed
• Digital preservation per se wont generally be
  the motivating factor, it will be a means to an
  end
• Other factors which relate to the individual
  organisations business plan will influence
  decisions to manage their digital materials

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Risks of Loss

• DPC Scenarios of Risk of Loss
• Seven case studies supplied by DPC members to
  date
• At least partial data recovery has been achieved
  in five case studies
• Factors influencing need for recovery include
  organisational change (company ceasing, changes
  in staff etc.), potential for re-use not
  recognised, lack of awareness

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Lessons from case studies

• We cant rely on chance survival
• Recovery of data will always be more costly than
  lifecycle management
• It is much more cost-effective to manage data
  from creation and to plan for either long-term
  preservation or destruction
• Some data has been lost because of resource,
  rather than technical issues

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Factors influencing Costs
Collaboration
Services and Tools
Responsible stewardship
Research
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Collaboration

• Builds collaborative learning
• Shares the burden
• Increases prospects for common tools, techniques,
  and standards
• Potential to transfer valuable lessons to others
  and avoid costly mistakes
• Strengthens advocacy

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Collaboration on web archiving

• UK Web Archiving Consortium
• All DPC members. 3 national libraries (BL,
  NLS,NLW) national archive (TNA) Wellcome
  Library JISC
• International Internet Preservation Consortium
• Co-ordinated by Bibliotheque Nationale de France
  with ten other national libraries and the
  Internet Archive
• lthttp//netpreserve.orggt

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Services and Tools U.K

• PRONOM file format registry
• Online registry of file formats and software
  products
• Constantly updated and freely available
• lthttp//www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pronom/gt
• Individual organisations providing advice and
  guidance

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Research

• Two reports proposing research agendas
  published in 2003
• Its About Time
• lthttp//www.digitalpreservation.gov.repor/NSF_LC_F
  inal_
• Report.pdfgt
• Invest to Save
• lthttp//www.eprints.erpanet.org/archive/00000048gt
• Both suggest a number of research projects which
  will help improve the efficiency and
  effectiveness of digital preservation

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JISC

• Digital Preservation and Records Management
  programme
• lthttp//www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?nameprogramme_pr
  eservationgt
• Several projects have been funded which address
  various specific challenges
• Records management programme has funded 17
  projects to help institutions meet requirements
  of FOI Act

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JISC digital preservation and asset management

• Recent Call for proposals supporting
  institutional digital preservation and asset
  management is allocating 700k over two years for
  projects to support embedding of digital
  preservation and asset management within
  institutions
• lthttp//www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?namefunding_circ
  ular4_04gt
• Encouraging, defining and supporting good
  practice

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Digital Curation Centre

• Funded by JISC and e-Science Core Programme
• Consortium between Universities of Edinburgh and
  Glasgow, UKOLN and Council for the Central
  Laboratory of the Research Councils
• Building Associates network, undertaking
  research, developing services, virtuous circle
• lthttp//www.dcc.ac.ukgt

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Responsible Stewardship

• Need more active engagement in managing digital
  resources from more stakeholders
• Creators are particularly important
• We need to engage with different communities in
  terms that make sense to them
• Need more understanding that digital preservation
  isnt just for specialists

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A Continuum

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Summary

• We cant afford not to find workable solutions
  to preserving digital information
• It will become increasingly cost-effective as we
  harness practical experience, collaboration,
  standards and services, and research

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• Thank You!
• Questions?

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