Persistent Identifier (PID)

• Why is the PID important?

  • An essential technology to preserve “referential integrity”.
  • Approximately 41% or the URLs referenced in Computer and CACM journals in the period 1995-1999 were inaccessible in 2002 (Spinellis, 2003)

• What is it?

  • An identifier that is technology and protocol independent and is mapped to a URL.
  • Example: The historic newspaper “The Poultryman”
  • The handle for an issue is 1782.1/poultryman.6.39
  • URL access: http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/poultryman.6.39

• CNRI Handle System (http://www.handle.net)

  • For assigning, managing and resolving persistent identifiers
  • Managed by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives