title: LIFE3: A PREDICTIVE COSTING TOOL  FOR DIGITAL COLLECTIONS
creators: Brian Hole Paul Wheatley Li Lin Patrick McCann
abstract: Predicting the costs of long-term digital preservation is a
  crucial yet complex task for even the largest repositories
  and institutions. For smaller projects and individual
  researchers faced with preservation requirements, the
  problem is even more overwhelming, as they lack the
  accumulated experience of the former. Yet being able to
  estimate future preservation costs is vital to answering a
  range of important questions for each. The LIFE (Life
  Cycle Information for E-Literature) project, which has
  just completed its third phase, helps institutions and
  researchers address these concerns, reducing the
  financial and preservation risks, and allowing decision
  makers to assess a range of options in order to achieve
  effective preservation while operating within financial
  restraints. The project is a collaboration between
  University College London (UCL), The British Library
  and the Humanities Advanced Technology and
  Information Institute (HATII) at the University of
  Glasgow. Funding has been supplied in the UK by the
  Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the
  Research Information Network (RIN).