Costs of implementation and maintenance

Initial Setup

The primary initial costs will be in acquiring hardware to accommodate the depository and in creating or adapting the software for the various components of

the system: author registration; deposit; cataloging; user registration; use tracking and reporting; billing. It will also be important to publicize Thesauron to potential participating institutions, authors, and users; some portion of the initial budget should be allocated to this promotion.

Maintenance

Because most of the information in Thesauron is author-or user-generated, the maintenance costs should be largely limited to general system maintenance and gradual expansion of disk storage. It may be desirable to provide for part-time help line assistance.

Paying for Thesauron

It will be necessary to seek a grant to support the initial setup of and publicity for the system. The maintenance and help line costs should be covered by a modest subscription from participating institutions in exchange for the service of receiving and delivering works into and from the depository.

If the payment feature becomes a significant aspect of Thesauron, a portion of the access or copying charges could go to defray maintenance expenses.