From the Open Content Alliance Blog:
Digitizing books still has some challenges, but I believe the economics of it are clear. Nonetheless, some misunderstandings persist. I’d like to review some of the most basic facts about book digitization that I’ve learned over the past seven or so years.
Most attention is paid to the cost of scanning (photographing the pages and processing them), but I cannot emphasize enough that the greatest costs of building a digital library are those borne by the brick-and-mortar libraries. Libraries spend billions each year building, curating, and maintaining their collections. So, the real value, and costs, are in the books and the libraries. This aspect is too often overlooked and undervalued.