This email is an invitation to participate in the Digital Library Federation’s Assessment Interest Group's (DLF AIG) working group on costs<https://wiki.diglib.org/Assessment:Costs#DLF_Cost_Working_Group> in 2020. 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.

 

Costs in 2020

As the oldest working group in the AIG, the Costs group was originally formed in 2014 for the creation, enhancement, and maintenance of the Digitization Cost Calculator, a tool to help institutions assess the money (and time) needed for digitization projects. In 2020, the group will explore ways to move away from exclusively focusing on the upkeep of the Cost Calculator and seek to create other tools and resources that could aid institutions in digitization project planning and benchmarking.

As we move into this new phase for the group, we will continue to collect, aggregate, and share data on the time and cost of the various tasks involved in the digitization process, but we will also focus more of our time and energy towards the creation of other resources to help institutions assess the cost and time requirements for digitization.

The Cost Working group is an ideal place for digital lab practitioners and managerial staff alike to come together to talk about practical ways to assess the resources necessary to plan and execute successful digitization projects.

 

Costs Goals for 2020

 

• Finish updating the data collection tool for the cost calculator (begun in 2019)
• Explore a “Costs Assessment Toolkit” - What might this include? What should this look like?
• Explore the creation of a more flexible tool (i.e. a formula-driven worksheet, or…?) to allow organizations to build cost estimates outside of the original calculator tool
• Explore the creation of a vendor list, to help institutions assess the cost of digitizing in-house versus vending out.
• Explore the future of the Costs group by assessing current needs of the community.

 

How can you participate?

 

• Join us for the kickoff meeting scheduled for February 19, 2020 at 1pm(eastern)/12pm(central)/11am(mountain)/10am(pacific)
• Do you have experience costing projects at your organization? Tell us what you use to make internal estimates. Or, tell us what you wish you had to make these estimates.
• Have data to contribute? Help us enhance our data collection form.
• Are you a spreadsheet wizard? We’d love to work with you.
• Have ideas for potential projects related to digitization costs? Let’s hear them!

 

To join the group, email either Deirdre Joyce or Shannon Willis directly (see email addresses below), or go to the google group and join us! <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/dlf-aig-cost-assessment>.

 

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!

 

Deirdre Joyce ([log in to unmask]) and Shannon Willis ([log in to unmask])

 

DLF AIG Costs Group co-coordinators