Persistent Identifiers as infrastructure in Cambridge

Description

The AHRC’s recent Towards a National Collection (TaNC) research initiative completed several foundation projects. One of these focused on Persistent Identifiers as IRO infrastructure. A collaborative group from Cambridge Digital Humanities (CDH), Cambridge University Libraries (CULs), University Information Services (UIS), and Cambridge University Press & Assessment (CUPA) have been awarded funding from the University Collaboration Budget to convene a symposium that will explore a unified approach and response to this extremely important area for heritage collections and their place in digital landscapes.

If you’ve not yet encountered persistent identifiers, this summary from the TaNC project’s final report provides a brief summary of their significance:

‘Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) provide a long-lasting click-able link to a digital object, recognised by UKRI as a tool for making content Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) and enabling citation and metrics. Supporting wider use of PIDs in collection organisations will allow long-term, unambiguous linking that will help create a digital national collection’.

This symposium will provide a local opportunity to engage with the national conversation around topics such as:

• What PIDs are, what are the benefits and what has the TaNC project achieved?
• What are the options and recommended approaches?
• How might PIDs impact the matrix of collections, research, publication, and education?
• How can we work together to implement PIDs across Cambridge institutions?
• A range of real-word case studies and challenges.

View the current programme but please note this is subject to change.