Cost Strategy Programs

Cost benefits

       Digital formatting programs can be costly and have huge start-up costs, especially if done in-house. A hypothetical case study presented at the 2003 National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH) Symposium quoted a small digitization project as costing $16,332, if outsourced to a vendor, or about $100,000 (to purchase software and hardware for an in-house program). It is worth these prices when one considers the long-term financial benefits of digital reformatting. A cost-benefit study presented by Lee (2001) found that it costs about $5.40 to digitize a 10-page article (with unlimited free duplicates), much less than the total accumulated cost of repeatedly duplicating the physical master with a photocopier.

Function as a preservation strategy

         Digital reformatting is not unanimously accepted as a viable, long-term preservation strategy. The  Association of Research Libraries recognized digitization as a viable preservation method because of its capture capabilities, reproduction of “the navigational experience of a book,” enhanced accessibility, and the creation of “virtual collections that will support new and creative research made possible only in a digital environment”. As of September 12, 2007, however, OCLC  had not recognized digitization and digital reformatting as preservation standards.

Digital Reformatting Programs

       The Library of Congress has constituted a Preservation Digital Reformatting Program. The Three main components of the program include:
  • Selection Criteria for digital reformatting
  • Digital reformatting principles and specifications
  • Life cycle management of LC digital data

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