This is the literature review that formed the basis for the Blue Ribbon Task Force interim report, dating of december 2008. The main goal in providing this literature review is to provide a baseline understanding of the current state of research into and practice in the sustainability of digital preservation, particularly regarding the concrete components that drive costs in the area of digital preservation. Part of this endeavor includes determining whether any important gaps in the literature still exist and if so, to highlight those areas so that appropriate future work can be undertaken.
Understanding one’s preservation cost structure is paramount for managing sustainability issues. Costs influence incentives, and incentives determine who will be willing to support preservation initiatives in both the short- and long-term. Likewise, gaining control over the structure of incentives can ensure more successful business models and funding structures. Few are willing to pay for a preservation initiative without knowing how much it costs and how the costs are distributed.
Hence, costs are a necessary, if not sufficient, component of a viable sustainability plan. In the following discussion we consider the issues related to costs and incentives and summarize the early and more recent literature on costs, followed by a detailed comparison of available data and a discussion of the constraints on any comparative analysis. Finally, several observations, including a discussion of gaps in prior work, are offered in the concluding section.