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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 52| August 2001


Consultancy on Persistent Identifiers

Diana Dack

Most resources currently on the Web are described in terms of their location using a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). This is a major weakness as moving files or reorganising sites leads to broken links wherever those files have been cited or bookmarked.

Assignment of persistent identifiers is an essential element in strategies to maintain long-term access to digital objects, including ‘born digital’ Internet publications and digital surrogates of traditional collection items. They enable the unique identification, or naming, of digital objects for the purposes of continued access, citation and preservation. To date, while a number of schemes for persistent identification have been devised, none has been widely adopted.

The National Library of Australia has been discussing the issue of persistent identifiers for digital objects since 1997. A number of working groups within the Library examined available schemes and their suitability for the collections. What the Library’s role should be both nationally and internationally in fostering the use of persistent identifiers has been considered and the Library is a member of the Persistent Identifier subcommittee of the Committee of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL), which is now chaired by the Director General of the National Library of Australia, Jan Fullerton.

At the beginning of 2000, there was no obvious way forward. Schemes that had showed some promise of widespread adoption were languishing. In March 2000, in order to advance the Library’s understanding and decision-making about persistent identifiers, it engaged a part-time consultant, Diana Dack.

The consultant was asked to analyse the current technical and organisational situation and recent developments in the field of persistent identifiers. In addition, the Library required advice on a scheme compatible with international practice that would be suitable for delivery of its own digital services and collections. It also wanted an examination of what its national role in fostering the use of persistent identifiers should be.

Ms Dack’s findings indicated that no scheme of persistent identification yet developed offers an obvious solution. The main deficiency that all schemes have in common is that they either rely on conversion of the identifier to a URL for interpretation by standard browsers, such as Netscape and Internet Explorer, or they require special software to be downloaded to the user’s PC.

Under these circumstances, the consultant advised the Library not to commit to any existing scheme. As an interim strategy she recommended that the Library manage the persistence of its own resources through a combination of managed URLs and a system of unique identifiers that could become part of any naming scheme that became widely used at a later date.

Outcomes of the consultancy included the formulation of guidelines for setting up persistent identifiers for the Library’s digital collections. A brochure, ‘Managing Web Resources for Persistent Access’ was published. It is also available online at www.nla.gov.au/guidelines/2000/persistence.html. The consultant’s report is available at www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/persistence/PIcontents.html

A set of eight recommendations points the way for future action by the Library. Some of this action is already in train. As already mentioned, guidelines for formulating identifiers for the Library’s own collections have already been developed and are being implemented. In addition, under the auspices of the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL), the National Library is cooperating with the State Library of Tasmania to develop an Australian Digital Resource Identifier (ADRI). This would enable libraries and other collecting institutions that wished to participate in the scheme to embed identifiers already in use within a persistent identifier that would meet the needs of a national system. It is being developed in a form that would be compatible with any other scheme that may be widely adopted internationally in the future.

A major ongoing task for the Library and organisations with similar responsibilities, such as the National Archives of Australia, is to promote awareness of the value of good information management practices, especially managing for persistence.

For further information contact Margaret Phillips at email address mphillips@nla.gov.au

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