The LIFE2 final project report

Abstract

Executive summary: The first phase of LIFE (Lifecycle Information For E-Literature) made a major contribution to \nunderstanding the long-term costs of digital preservation; an essential step in helping \ninstitutions plan for the future. The LIFE work models the digital lifecycle and calculates the \ncosts of preserving digital information for future years. Organisations can apply this process \nin order to understand costs and plan effectively for the preservation of their digital \ncollections \nThe second phase of the LIFE Project, LIFE2, has refined the LIFE Model adding three new \nexemplar Case Studies to further build upon LIFE1. LIFE2 is an 18-month JISC-funded \nproject between UCL (University College London) and The British Library (BL), supported \nby the LIBER Access and Preservation Divisions. LIFE2 began in March 2007, and \ncompleted in August 2008. \nThe LIFE approach has been validated by a full independent economic review and has \nsuccessfully produced an updated lifecycle costing model (LIFE Model v2) and digital \npreservation costing model (GPM v1.1). The LIFE Model has been tested with three further \nCase Studies including institutional repositories (SHERPA-LEAP), digital preservation \nservices (SHERPA DP) and a comparison of analogue and digital collections (British Library \nNewspapers). These Case Studies were useful for scenario building and have fed back into \nboth the LIFE Model and the LIFE Methodology. \nThe experiences of implementing the Case Studies indicated that enhancements made to the \nLIFE Methodology, Model and associated tools have simplified the costing process. Mapping \na specific lifecycle to the LIFE Model isn’t always a straightforward process. The revised and \nmore detailed Model has reduced ambiguity. The costing templates, which were refined \nthroughout the process of developing the Case Studies, ensure clear articulation of both \nworking and cost figures, and facilitate comparative analysis between different lifecycles. \nThe LIFE work has been successfully disseminated throughout the digital preservation and \nHE communities. Early adopters of the work include the Royal Danish Library, State \nArchives and the State and University Library, Denmark as well as the LIFE2 Project partners. \nFurthermore, interest in the LIFE work has not been limited to these sectors, with interest in \nLIFE expressed by local government, records offices, and private industry. LIFE has also \nprovided input into the LC-JISC Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Economic Sustainability of \nDigital Preservation. \nMoving forward our ability to cost the digital preservation lifecycle will require further \ninvestment in costing tools and models. Developments in estimative models will be needed to \nsupport planning activities, both at a collection management level and at a later preservation \nplanning level once a collection has been acquired. In order to support these developments a \ngreater volume of raw cost data will be required to inform and test new cost models. This \nvolume of data cannot be supported via the Case Study approach, and the LIFE team would \nsuggest that a software tool would provide the volume of costing data necessary to provide a \ntruly accurate predictive model.

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