Cost Factors

Labor — setup/startup time is relatively short, but collection building is a labor-intensive process

Computer — a small-to-medium sized Intel-based server is most appropriate

Disk Storage & Backup — storage costs are low and continue to drop, but the storage system should be wholly redundant

Other software — For collections that entail audio, video, and/or image files, utilities supporting the processing, conversion, etc., of such files will be needed; open source options are generally available, but not always sufficient