Page History

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• We don't want to break any system currently used at CUL that uses persistent identifieres, such as the PURL server.  Backward compatible.
• Provide a mechanism for persistent ID's for OAI-PMH
• Optionally resolvable only within a constrained environment. Secured nameservice. For archiving.  The individual
• Can ensure confidentiallity.System should define a mechanism for client authentication/authorization to ensure data integrity and  authority control.
• It doesn't have dependencies on external systems in order to resolve local PIDs.
• Every PID should be globally unique.
• PID should be free of location semantics.
• PID must be able to refer to multiple aspects, attributes, or behaviors of the digital object, but with a default aspect that conforms with convential use.
• Globally resolvable.
• Fine-grained control of PIDs, so that groups can maintain their own sets, without having to maintain multiple PID resolvers/servers.

Methodology  (Adam S)

• Overview of PID

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Bill Kehoe and Rick Siltera began discussing the desire for a consistent PID strategy based on the integral role that PIDs would play in several ongoing projects that included Priority Teams One and Two and the MathArc project. They desired a lightweight, focused and efficient process for vetting the different approaches to PIDs with the goal of finding the most appropriate PID strategy for use on these projects. Marcy Rosenkrantz, Nancy McGovern and Oya Reiger proceeded to help organize this group, which included (in alphabetical order):

• Adam Chandler
• John Fereira
• Bill Kehoe
• George Kozak
• Rick Silterra
• Adam Smith

 
An initial meeting of this group, attended by Marcy and Oya, clarified the charge and the approach to be taken. The group was to meet weekly for a planned period of four to six weeks to review PID approaches, ending in a "retreat" in which recommendations would be formulated and ultimately presented to stakeholders within the library, particularly the Digital Content Delivery Platforms Forum and the Metadata Working Group.

The group began a Wiki that gathered previous research into PID solutions by members of CUL, and outlined a number of those approaches as well as the relevant standards and other documentation for each. In the first meeting, the group surveyed the landscape of existing PID strategies and other approaches to identifying print and electronic resources including the general issues and challenges underlying these strategies. Then, in each subsequent week, the group chose to look at a particular PID strategy, reading the relevant documentation and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. The group also examined the experiences of any existing implementations of each PID strategy at CUL and elsewhere. Throughout the group's explorations, the original scope and charge were reevaluated in light of the discussions, and the impact that the group's eventual recommendations would have on existing and future CUL projects were considered.

A rough list of topics discussed includes:

• an overview of identifier strategies and issues,
• PURL,
• ARK,
• Handle,
• OpenURL, and
• OAI-PMH requirements.

 
By the end of these discussions, the group began to reach a consensus around Handles based on that approach's general maturity and installed base, its fit for CUL's projects, and the existing knowledge about this approach within CUL. The group then began to plan and write this report on the group Wiki that recommends further exploration of Handles.

   
Recommendations
          (embed the rationale for each recommendation)

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