Letter to the Editor

Citation

Eden, B. (2006), "Letter to the Editor", OCLC Systems & Services: International digital library perspectives, Vol. 22 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/oclc.2006.16422daa.001

Letter to the Editor

John Webb of Washington State University wrote to me after the publication of the article indicated below, indicating in a long letter that Mr Bond had grossly underestimated the costs involved in sustaining a digital collection. Mr Bond and Mr Webb have discussed these issues, and have decided that, instead of having me publish Mr Webb’s original letter and then Mr Bond’s response to that letter, I publish the addendum to Mr Bond’s article below.

Brad Eden

Addendum

After the publication of my article, “Sustaining a digital collection after the grants; the Early Washington Maps Project”, Vol. 22 No. 1, 2006, I had discussions with my WSU Library colleague, John Webb, Assistant Director for Systems and Planning, on various cost estimation methodologies. Mr Webb pointed out that, if WSU decided to have DiMeMa host the collection, the costs would be $2,400 a year. My estimate of the annual costs in the article did not include some valid factors. We also discussed the concept of sustainability, and I agree with him that we – the digital community – do not have a good understanding of what it means except in the short term. He expressed his full encouragement for my raising these issues, and we both hope that we and others will continue to explore these topics.

Trevor James BondSpecial Collections Librarian, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-5610