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November 17, 2003
TCO of Filtering: Who Knows? Anyone?
CIPA compliance needs much better TCO (Total Cost Of Ownership) analysis than we've seen to date. Some libraries have determined that compliance with CIPA--including convoluted responses to adult permissions issues--isn't worth it, financially. It would be great for libraries to speak up (anonymously, if it suits their needs) and talk to others about what their own TCO analyses yielded and how that affected their decisions.
Libraries, feel free to comment. (Actually, that should be "librarians," as buildings rarely speak for themselves.)
Posted by kgs at November 17, 2003 07:38 AM
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Make sure to take into account the increased cost of system administration/network engineering. Such people are (or should be :-)) expensive.
Posted by: Seth Finkelstein at November 17, 2003 09:34 AM
"... Such people are (or should be :-)) expensive."
As should *all* highly trained information professionals (insert the sideways grin thing here)...
As for the TCO analyses, Karen, have you seen anything that might serve as a model for such analyses? Seems to me you are suggesting an economic analysis that is able to account for all the costs of filters (software, maintenance, retrieving wrongly blocked material, etc). If so, I am with you, but I am also pondering the conundrum of trying to quantify the (economic) value of things that economists ignore precisely because they cannot quantify them.
Posted by: Frederick Emrich at November 17, 2003 02:43 PM
I took a stab at some of the ownership costs in my PLA Technote (I'll spare you the ludicrous URL--just Google up "Plain Facts About Internet Filtering Software"), with the understanding I was just scratching the surface in the broadest sense.
I can't see why the TCO of filtering isn't at least loosely quantifiable at the library level. You have to know at leat roughly what your costs are. Seth, in terms of labor, add in not just the systems costs (and let's not forget the costs associated with selecting and implementing a filter) but the indirect costs associated with developing, implementing, and maintaining disabling mechanisms. The Technote comments that one library even wrote its own browser--not exactly peanuts. If you're filtering with any lucidity, you're spending money to do it.
The software is probably the cheapest part of it by a long shot.
Posted by: K. G. Schneider at November 17, 2003 05:56 PM
Very nice article, Karen. I see that the TCO areas you suggest appear quantifiable for the most part, and it would make sense for libraries to address these in making decisions about filtering.
When I wrote my previous comment, I had in mind more-difficult-to-quantify costs that extend from the encroachment on the value of open information. Some of these are somewhat quantifiable (how many work-hours do librarians put in helping patrons turn off filters?), others (what is the cost of blocking access to information patrons have every right to view?) are more difficult to measure.
Ultimately I think both these approaches are important, but tactically distinct. And I think the readily-quantifiable TCOs you describe would be more immediately relevant to libraries considering system implementation and more readily understandable to policy makers.
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Posted by: john at April 27, 2004 04:58 AM