This paper is a presentation of the cost-benefit analysis of digital long-term preservation (LTP) that was conducted as a part of the Finnish Na-tional Digital Library Project (NDL) in 2010. The analysis was based on the assumption that as many as 200 archives, libraries, and museums will share a LTP system. The term ”system” shall be understood as encompassing not only information technology, but also human resources, organiza-tional structures, policies and funding mecha-nisms. The cost analysis shows that a LTP system will incur, over 12 first years, cumulative costs of 42 million euros, i.e. in average 3.5 million euros per annum. Human resources and investments on information technology are the major cost factors. – After the initial stages, the analysis predicts an-nual costs of circa 4 million euros. The analysis compared scenarios with and without a shared LTP system. The results point to remarka-ble benefits of a shared system. In the costs of de-veloping and implementation stages, a shared sys-tem shows an advantage of 30 million euros, against the alternative scenario consisting of 5 independent LTP solutions. During the later stag-es, the advantage is estimated at 10 million euros per annum. The cumulative cost benefit over first 12 years would be circa 100 million euros.

1. Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Shared Digital Long-Term Preservation (LTP) SystemLiber 2011http://bibliotecnica.upc.edu/LIBER2011/Esa-Pekka Keskitalo National Library of FinlandPL 26, 00014 University of Helsinkiesa-pekka.keskitalohelsinki.fiwww.nationallibrary.fi @

2. Outline Context: the National Digital Library Inititative Tools and basicassumptions Results Lessonslearned

3. National Digital Library Improvingavailability, usability, and preservation of digitalmaterials in libraries, archives, and museums. Common userinterfaceinfrastructure Europeanaaggregation Digitization of culturalheritagematerials Centralizedlong-termpreservationservice Partof the development of national electronicservices and infrastructures. (UbiquitousInformationSociety action plan; GovernmentResolution on the Objectives of the National InformationSocietyPolicy) http://www.kdk.fi/en

4. The National Digital Library

5. NDL: Long-TermPreservation System

6. FutureGovernance of the NDL Ministry of Education & Culture LTP System admin(to bechosen) User Interfaceadmin =The National Library Consortium Consortium CSC (infrastructure)

7. NDL givens for the Future LTP System LTP Section Final Report NDL Enterprise Architecture; with the Standards Portfolio NDL System of Governance Strongpushtowardsparticipation General acceptance of the concept of the LTP system

8. Why LTP Costsare a Challenge? Digital materialsneedconstantcare Electricity, cooling Protection Digital materialsneedriskanalysis and preservationprocedures Monitoring Migration, emulation, etc.

9. Cost Analysis LTP is aboutbuilding a system of funding and governancethatcanensureusability of materials. The path is chosenbybalancingcosts and benefits in the long run. Goodunderstanding of Life CycleCosts is a must. Set criteria, assumptions, limitations Identifycostfactors; estimatecosts; rankalternatives. Building costs, runningcosts, maintenancecosts

10. Tools Used in Analysis LifecycleInformation for E-Literature (LIFE) Designed for digitalmaterials Standard CostModel (SCM) Life CycleCosts (LCC) Cost – Benefit Analysis (CBA)

11. LIFE2

12. Preliminary Surveys Preservation and Use of Digital Materials. Memorandum of the Working Group on Long-TermPreservation and Usability of Digital Materials. Ministry of Education: Reports 2008:2. ”IdentifyingBenefits of the LTP Project and IncreasingOrganizations’ Preparedness”, December 2009. Jaakko Asplund (Salivirta & Partners) Digital Materials in Archives, Libraries, and Museums. December 2009. Juhani Koivunen (Netum Konsultointi)

13. Assumptions: Amount of Data

14. Assumptions: Scale and GrowthRate

15. Amount of data underestimated Surveyswerenotcomprehensive Especiallyresearch data badlyrepresented Participantshaverevisedtheirestimationsup

16. Assumptions: Level of Services Differentorganizations, differentmaterials Organizationsareresponsible to preparematerials for preservation Standardscompliance Metadata minimumrequirementsmet METS packaging LTP System mayprovideadditionalconsultancy and services, e.g. METS packaging software service Level of involvement in LTP decision-making and operationmayvary Advanced disseminationup to the organizations

17. Assumptions on Technology Severalcopies – on different media – in separatelocations E.g. One copy on disk (S-ATA), two on tapes (backup copy, archival copy) Twofull-servicelocations + oneinternalarchivelocation Materialsaccessible ”in a fewseconds” Fall of priceswillmatchincrease of volume

19. Assumptions: Costs of Human Resources Averagesalaries for specialists, management, adminstrativesupport Estimation of annualincreases Employer’scosts (30 % of salary) Costs of premises (750 € / month / person) 10 specialistsrequire 1 manager and 0.5 assistant 10 % of the sum of salariesused in outsourcedtraining, consultancy, auditing, etc.

20. CostFactors: Human Resources

21. CostFactors: Investmens

22. CostFactors: Fixed & VariableCosts

23. Characteristics of the hypothetical LTP System 200 institutionsparticipate (manyverysmall). Starts with 700 Terabytes, increases to 4,000 Tb in 7 years. Planning and implementationphasedoversixyears. Twogeographicallyseparatemirrorsites with allservicesavailable; plus a ”darkarchive”. Stores materials in severalcopies, in severallocations, on severaltypes of media. Conductsrisk management and preservationoperations 10 % of contentsmigratedannually Materialsareowned, and ultimatelycontrolledby the participatingorganizations Differentlevels of service to diferentorganizations

24. EstimatedCosts 42 M€ for years 1-12 (planning and implementationstages) Plus 3,4 M€ for a ”darkarchive” Afteryear 12, runningcostsstable 4 M€ per annum

25. Costs of a Shared LTP System M€ Dark Archive (option) Total Costs Year

26. Main Division of Costs M€ Year Human Resources Investments FixedCosts of RunningOperations VariableCostsof Operations and Systems

27. QualitativeBenefits of a Shared LTP System

28. QuantitativeBenefits Translation of qualitativebenefits into money values Types of savings: Savings in performance (goodsproduced) Comparativesavings (againstalternativescenarios) Increasedreturn Othersavings Major savingsby Lowercosts of LTP systems Cheaper management of materials Betterpreservationresults

29. LowerCosts of LTP Systems Implementationstage: 30 million € over Productionstage: 8 million € per annum Against 5 separate LTP systems Savings in humanresources and investments

30. Cheaper Management of Materials In production, 2.5 million € per annum Compared to adminstartion, qualityassurance, and disseminationdone in the organizations

31. BetterPreservationResults Digitizedmaterials: 0.5 million € per annum Compared to 2 % of digitizedmaterialsbeingdamaged in lack of LTP Digitizationcost: 1.3 € per an object Born-digitalmaterials: ”Severalmillioneuros per annum”

32. Balance of Benefits of a Shared LTP System Benefits Costs Savings

33. Summary of Costs and Benefits Costs: 42 M€ for years 1-12 (planning and implementationstages) Plus 3,4 M€ for a ”darkarchive” Afteryear 12, runningcostsstable4 M€ per annum Savings of a shared LTP system 30 M€ duringyears 1-12 10 M€ per annumafterthat Cumulativebenefitduringfirst 12 years: 100 M€

34. LessosLearnedaboutCosts and Benefit Increase of costsovertime is tolerable Costsaremanageable in the scenarioused Digital preservationhasbenefits Sharedsystem is a feasible option

35. LessonsLearnedabout the Process Therearemethodsthatlendthemselves to analysingcosts and benefits of LTP Inexactfiguresarebetterthan no figures at all Allvaluescan and mustbeexpressed in money

36. Thankyou!