The job closed. They still want a shelf they can rummage.
2026 Slack still sounds like this: “can you library these,” “keyword the exports so brand can find them,” “we need a tagged Drive we can pull from without you.” That is not the native Figma of this job. That is not extra seats on the same PDF. That is not a do/don’t book. That is not a 9:16 recrop. One job already paid for its files. What they want now is a findable pack — names, tags, folders — so a stranger on their team can grab an icon in October. Bill the clock against the hub floor. Target income, billable-week count, and whatever tax buffer you set stay on that hub. This page does not clone them and is not a 50-state tax engine. Read $450 as 5 × 90 with a dollar sign. Invoice in another currency? Switch it on the hub. Still guessing at $90? Build it on how to set a freelance rate.
Asset-library extra = hours you type to name, tag, and package × hourly floor. Start at the first ugly filename. Stop when they can search the pack without you. Five hours is the worked example. Ten hours is a fat keyword sheet plus hundreds of files. Two hours is a tight folder-and-label pass. You own the hour count. This card will not gift the catalog because “the files were already paid,” will not mint 25% of the job, and will not hang an $8 sticker on each PNG so a 40-icon set looks official.
Worked USD: 5h × $90 = $450
First preset. Naming / tagging / boxing hours: 5. Floor: $90. Product: 5 × $90 = $450.
That $450 is the reusable pack sitting on top of one job they already bought. It is not a .fig zip of this job. It is not more people licensed to run the original. It is not misuse slides for the wordmark. It is not Stories from a 16:9 master. Send the dollars before you rename anything. “The library was included” is not a line this card ever wrote.
Second preset keeps the same $90 and stretches the clock to 10 hours. Extra: 10 × $90 = $900. You typed 10. A bigger shelf — more folders, a keyword index, a “how to find this later” sheet — still prices as hours × floor, still because they asked after one job closed, still not 25% of the project, still not a per-asset mill.
Third preset: 2 hours at $90. Extra: 2 × $90 = $180. Labels on the directories and a short tag list is still a library they asked for after the job. Short is not free, and it is not a per-icon ticket.
Four other doors — none of them shelves a pack
The native Figma / PSD / AE of this job, after they already bought the PDF, MP4, or live site, is a zip of working files. That clock is package hours × floor on source-files (worked 2h × $90 = $180). Dumping this job’s layers is not a catalog someone can search in Q4. A tagged pack is not the working files of this job. Want both? Zip hours there, naming / tagging hours here. “Send the .fig, they can rummage” is not a library.
More people running the same file is a rights extra, not a shelf. Quoted hours × floor × a multiplier they type lives on usage-license. 0.5 is a half-again example they type — not 2× for nationwide ads, not a copyright statute. Extra seats do not keyword a folder. Tagging a pack does not widen who can run the original. Want both? Rights extra there, library hours here. Do not hide a searchable Drive inside a paid-ads multiplier.
A living do/don’t book after the mark — clear space, lockups, “don’t outline the wordmark” — is identity rules, not filenames. That clock is hours × floor on brand-guidelines (worked 6h × $90 = $540; not 20% of identity, not a per-page mill). Misuse slides do not tag an icon set. Tags do not write the rules. Want both? Brand-book hours there, library hours here.
A 9:16 Stories/Reels cut of a 16:9 or square master they already bought is extra aspect ratios, not a shelf. Hours × floor on social-cuts (worked 4h × $90 = $360; not $50 a cut; not 20% of the video). Recrop lives there. Filenames live here. Want both? Cutdown hours there, naming / tagging hours here. A vertical MP4 is not “the library.”
You type the hours. This page will not mint 25% of the project
DAM Twitter still recites “25% of the fee for a library,” “$8 an asset,” “everyone bundles the catalog.” None of that is a statute. None of it is this math. Icons vs photos vs components only names which files they asked you to shelf. Dollars = hours you type to name, tag, and package × floor. No 25% library buyout. No per-asset mill.
If they ask for “the usual library percent,” answer that this card has none. Show $450 from five hours, type 10, or type 2. You own the hour count. Skip the lecture. No confirm, no renaming. The one job’s files they already bought still stand.
Paste the line before the first rename
Name the hours. Name the floor. Name $450, or whatever the card shows. Name that it sits on top of one job’s files they already bought. Copy from this card so the email dollars match the screen dollars.
- 5h × $90. Library extra: 5 hours to name, tag, and package × $90.00/hr = $450.00. Named, tagged pack they can pull from later after one job’s files already left — hours × floor, not 25% of the project, not a per-asset mill, and not tucked inside the job they already paid. Please confirm $450.00 before I start naming files.
- 10h tagged pack. Library extra: 10 hours to name, tag, and package × $90.00/hr = $900.00. Named, tagged pack they can pull from later after one job’s files already left — hours × floor, not 25% of the project, not a per-asset mill, and not tucked inside the job they already paid. Please confirm $900.00 before I start naming files.
- 2h name-and-folder pass. Library extra: 2 hours to name, tag, and package × $90.00/hr = $180.00. Named, tagged pack they can pull from later after one job’s files already left — hours × floor, not 25% of the project, not a per-asset mill, and not tucked inside the job they already paid. Please confirm $180.00 before I start naming files.
Skip guilt and “everyone knows the library is 25% of the project.” That speech turns a tagged pack into a fight. This page has no official library percent and no per-asset mill. No confirmed fee, no renaming started. Native files of this job belong on source-files. More users of the same file belong on usage-license. A do/don’t book after the mark belongs on brand-guidelines. Extra aspect ratios belong on social-cuts. If the $90 floor moved, rebuild it on the hub, then name this library extra.
Planning numbers, not a DAM contract
Planning toy only — not legal, tax, or collections advice, and not a digital-asset-management policy. No mandated library percent, no statute that prices a tag, no 25% slice of a closed job, no per-asset mill, and no 50-state tax engine. Keep the agreement you already signed. Need a clause that survives a dispute? Hire counsel where you work before the first filename changes. Filling this card does not write that clause and does not transfer a catalog.
Inputs: hours you type to name, tag, and package, plus the hourly floor. Output: the extra, and one sentence to paste. Dollars on this card are labeled USD. Live currency and any tax buffer stay on the hub.
Rate calculator Native zip of THIS job, not a library More users of the same file Do/don’t book after the mark Set the hourly floor
Billable weeks moved? Recalculate the floor on the hub before you price the shelf. This page names a reusable pack after one job’s files already left — hours × floor, not 25% of the project, not a per-asset mill. Working files of this job after a bought delivery: source-files. Broader rights on the same hours: usage-license. Living do/don’t book after the mark: brand-guidelines. Extra aspect ratios of a master: social-cuts. Floor still a placeholder? Begin on how to set a freelance rate.
FAQ
How do I charge when a client wants a reusable asset library after one freelance job’s files already left?
Type the hours the naming, tagging, and boxing will take. Multiply by your hourly floor. That product is the asset-library extra. The signed number already paid for this job’s files. A labeled pack they can rummage later is a second delivery. 5 × $90 reads $450 because those are the numbers in the worked example — change them. Planning only. This is not a DAM contract.
Is a freelance asset library 25% of the project, or billed per asset?
No. This hub does not sell a 25% library slice and does not hang a dollar on each icon. Hours you type × floor is the only product. If five hours is wrong for your keyword sheet, type a different hour count.
Is a named, tagged pack the same as native source files, a usage license, a brand book, or extra aspect ratios?
Four different doors. Source-files hands over the native Figma / PSD zip of THIS job after they already bought the PDF, MP4, or site. Usage-license sells more users of the same file via hours × floor × a multiplier they type. Brand-guidelines writes a living do/don’t book after the mark. Social-cuts exports extra aspect ratios of a master they already paid for. Asset-library shelves a pack they can pull from later.
What if they only wanted this job’s files, not a library they can search next quarter?
Leave the filenames alone. Type 0 hours. Extra is $0. The files they already bought still stand. The reusable pack stays unbuilt until they confirm hours × floor.
Is this asset-library math a DAM contract, a library statute, or a 50-state tax engine?
No. $450 is 5 times 90 labeled USD so you can read it. Currency and any tax buffer live on the hub calculator. Typing here does not write a DAM clause, does not transfer a catalog, and does not run a 50-state tax engine.