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This email is an invitation to participate in the DLF Assessment Interest Group’s (DLF AIG) working group on Cost Assessment in 2019. There is more information about the group below, but first, a few words about participating in DLF AIG.

The only requirement for participation in a DLF AIG working group is a willingness to dig in and devote a small part of your time contributing to the tools, methods, and body of knowledge on digital library assessment. Attendance at the DLF forum is not a requirement for participation in any of the working groups. Additionally, if your institution is not a DLF member, you can still participate.

Cost Assessment Working Group in 2018  

The Cost Assessment group’s primary task is to collect, aggregate, and share data on the time it takes to perform various tasks involved in the digitization process to help with project planning and benchmarking. When the group formed in 2014, 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.

Our work in 2018 was focused on learning more about how the calculator was being used in the community and opportunities for improvement. Over the summer we had 11 volunteers participate in both user interview and user testing. Over the fall we reviewed the sessions, captured all of the feedback in a spreadsheet and started discussing and prioritizing our next steps in GitHub issues.

For more information about the group, see the Cost Assessment Working Group wiki. The source code for the calculator is available via the Calculator's GitHub repository.

Goals for 2019

Our goal for 2019 will be to start working our way through the identified issues with the calculator with the goal of making the tool better. We plan to have a standing meeting every month to work together and discuss priorities. Some of what we’ve identified are feature requests, while others are more philosophical questions, like what is the purpose of the calculator. There is also the opportunity to work on the more technical side of the tool with Wayne Graham

How can you participate?  

• Join our meetings! We welcome participation from anyone with an interest in this area. If you join our Digital Library AIG Cost Assessment google group you will get notifications and invitations each time we meet. You're also welcome to drop in on any of our standing meetings which are listed on the DLF Community Calendar and in our meeting agendas. Questions? Contact co-facilitator Sarah Severson ([log in to unmask])

• The group typically meets once a month, and the time commitment is generally less than an hour per week.

• Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 28 3 pm EST/12 pm PST using the CLIR/DLF ZOOM Account https://clirdlf.zoom.us/j/619462547

For questions about the larger DLF Assessment Interest Group, contact the DLF AIG co-leaders, Sara Rubinow [log in to unmask] and Santi Thompson [log in to unmask].

Thank you for participating in the DLF AIG!

Sarah Severson & Chrissy Rissmeyer - co-cordinators of the Cost Assessment working group 

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