It may be a fool's errand to ask how much it would cost to implement an
open source institutional repository, but here goes!


Let's first focus on open source and say that there won't be vendor costs
for ingesting or downloading materials, that we already have our own
purchased servers dedicated to the IR, our own digitization program
(scanners and staff), and that we have already tallied cloud-based storage
and preservation costs.


I have heard that the costs of implementing an open source IR can be as
cheap as how much employee time is dedicated to the project. So you have a
programmer spend a year or so on implementation and hire a librarian to
manage it after that, let's say. Beyond that, are there any hard-and-fast
costs associated with getting an IR up and running?


I have also read somewhere that it costs just as much to implement an open
source IR as it does a proprietary one, but we'd certainly like to reap the
benefits of having ultimate control over our own system if at all possible.


By the way, if it helps, my institution is classified *Master's S*, with an
undergraduate enrollment of just under 10,000.


Numbers will vary wildly of course, but if anyone could give an idea of the
cost of any component of a project like this, open source or proprietary,
it would be most helpful.


Thanks,

Scott Bacon