DCC Workshop on Persistent Identifiers

The persistent identification of digital information can play a vital role in enabling its long-term accessibility and re-use. In recent years, there have been fragmented attempts to define a set of basic requirements for persistently identifying digital information. While workshops by CETIS and ERPANET have helped to highlight some of the major issues involved with persistent identification over time, widespread agreement on basic requirements has yet to be achieved. In an attempt to build upon the results of these two events and to help coordinate future efforts, the DCC, ERPANET, NISO, and CETIS are working together to deliver a series of related events which aim to establish wider agreement of some common requirements for creating globally unique, persistent identifiers.

The results of this event were used as a starting point for the NISO pre-standards workshop on the same topic held in September 2005.

Workshop Presentations & Sound Recordings

Benefits of Attendance

This workshop benefited anyone who creates or manages access to digital resources — including librarians, archivists, scientists, publishers and staff from higher and further education and government institutions. Participants helped set the agenda for the future development of persistent identifiers and helped draft an initial model for the assignment and long-term maintenance of persistent identifiers.

Format

The workshop provided a series of focused case studies, presentations and interactive breakout sessions. A handbook of additional resources was made available to participants outlining international projects, tools and identification systems.

Key themes included:

• Shared understanding key terms and concepts
• Use cases from a range of perspectives
• Developing workflow and conceptual models for the assignment and maintenance of persistent identifiers
• Ensuring persistence over time

Confirmed speakers included:

• Peter Buneman, DCC Associate Director - Research, School for Informatics, University of Edinburgh
• Charles Duncan, Director, Intrallect
• David Giaretta, DCC Associate Director - Development, Space Data, Space Science and Technology Department, CCLRC
• Stefan Gradmann, Head of the Virtual Library Unit at Hamburg University
• John Kunze, Preservation Technologies Architect, California Digital Library
• Andy Powell, Assistant Director and Team Leader, Distributed Systems and Services Team, UKOLN
• Rick Rodgers, National Library of Medicine
• Stuart Weibel, Consulting Research Scientist, Online Computer Library Centre (OCLC)

Programme Committee

• Peter Burnhill, Director, EDINA, UK
• Joy Davidson, Training Coordinator, Digital Curation Centre (DCC), UK
• Lorna Campbell, Assistant Director SIGs and Content, CETIS, UK
• Pat Harris, Director, National Information Standards Organization (NISO), USA
• John Kunze, Preservation Technologies Architect, California Digital Library, USA
• Lawrence Lannom, Director of Information Management Technology Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), USA
• Norman Paskin, Director International DOI Foundation, UK
• Rick Rodgers, National Library of Medicine, USA
• Seamus Ross, DCC Associate Director Services, UK
• Stuart Weibel, Consulting Research Scientist, Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), USA

Venue

This event was held at the Wolfson Medical Building, University of Glasgow. See travel information, campus and city maps.

Accommodation

See a list of the hotels within walking distance of the University of Glasgow and the Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley Tourist Board website for accommodation options.

Registration

Registration fees were £75 for DCC Associate Network members and £125 for non-members. These fees included all workshop materials and handouts, lunch and refreshments for both days.

Membership of the DCC Associates Network is FREE! For more information on becoming a member, see our Associates Network page.