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Category: Analysis

Description: The Cost group’s primary task was traditionally 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 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. Since 2020, 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 created six subgroups to work 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 worked on analyzing the results of our Still Image Digitization Costs Assessment Survey administered in 2021. The data and reports from the work of these groups are stored and made available here. The Cost Assessment Working Group sunset at the end of 2024 to create the Digitization Interest Group which is focused explicitly on the logistics of digitization and creating a community of practice around digitization programs.