BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS h h t t p : / / t e x a s h i s t o r y. u n t. e d u / Breaking down the Costs — what are your digitization projects really costing? Dreanna Belden July 10, 2009

h what’s your philosophy? target vs. neiman’s approach perfection ≠ usefulness perceived value access = gold standard Legacies, Fall 2007 BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h preciousizing, and issues thereof... how valid are our determinations of low and high value of collections? what constitutes significance, and to whom? who is the audience? (are you sure?) uncorrected or corrected OCR? full or select transcriptions? XML markup? level of description? BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h a little history, or a tale of two collections... BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h a tale of two collections... BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h Lorenzo de Zavala v.Deaf Smith County # of digital images10933,662 page views257,763523,583 historical significance?? time spent/record a LOTminimal online since cost of project$21,578$18,581 cost/page$19.75$5.07 cost/page view BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS * costs are based on the grant budget, and how real is that?

h a tale of two more collections... BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h Annexation of TexasSoil Surveys # of digital images page views667,150590,765 significance?? time spent/recordsignificantminimal online since total cost$47,187*$7,511** cost/digital image$8.81$1.56 cost/page view BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS * again, costs are based on the grant budget, and how accurate is it? ** based on our internal pricing model

h cost benefit analysis graph Figured as the value of page cost per view over time. The benefit being measured is usage. (cost per digital image in cents/page views per year). C O S T P E R P A G E V I E W BENEFIT: USAGE BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h so what is it really costing us? BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h inputs & statistics/year: permanent staff salaries student salaries $$: grants, donors, sponsored projects equipment costs storage overhead digital files/objects BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h UNT Libraries Digital Collections 9,327 digital objects, over 740,000 digital images Electronic Theses and Dissertations Music Library College of Music Recordings/Programs Miniature Book Collections CRS Reports Federal News maps, WWI & WWII posters FCC Record A to Z with Gov Docs what do we have? BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h UNT Libraries Digital Collections... End-of-Term Harvest of the.gov domain BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS

h so what is it really costing us? BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS InputsFY 06-07FY 07-08FY FT Personnel salary*$276,763$323,372$406,113 FT Personnel fringe$89,576$102,004$123,385 Student wage & fringe*$38,469$40,954$38,816 Grants$93,750$516,621$385,310 Other invoiced work$9,221$31,730$49,609 Storage$4,000$42,848$22,500 Equipment purchases$25,259$27,811$26,328 Sub-totals$537,038$1,085,340$1,052,061 Overhead$84,613$97,428$117,528 Totals$621,651$1,182,768$1,169,589

h so what is it really costing us? BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS InputsFY 06-07FY 07-08FY Total inputs$621,651$1,182,768$1,169,589 Total output: digital images245,972549,244450,006 Cost/image$2.53$2.15$2.59

h BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS and how does that stack up to prices we have been charging? photographs - $3.75 negatives - $5.00 glass plate negatives - $6.25 large format maps, posters, panoramics, etc. up to 30” - $33.50 up to 50” - $47.50 newspapers from microfilm - $1.03/page

Dreanna Belden University of North Texas BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS BREAKINGDOWNTHECOSTS questions?