4.4.9: Identifiers

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Identifier

An identifier is an unambiguous reference to a resource. Examples of formal identification systems include the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) - including the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or the International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

BibliographicCitation

dcterms:bibliographicCitation

BibliographicCitation is a bibliographic reference to a resource identifying the resource by bibliographic details. Typically the described resource is the child in a parent/child relationship where the bibliographicCitation is not describing the relationship but the location of the described resource within the parent resource (e.g. the bibliographic citation of an article consists of the name of a journal as well as the number of volume, issues and even page references). For the description of parent/child relations see hasPart or isPartOf. BibliographicCitation may only be used to describe bibliographic resources like books, articles or other documentary resource.

Guidelines for the creation of identifier content

Best practice is to declare the identification system from which an identifier is selected.

title	What's a URI and why does it matter?
identifier	http://www.ltg.ed.ac.uk/~ht/WhatAreURIs/	URI

as linked data

Identifiers should be selected from formal identification systems as above but can also be local identifiers as long as there is a proper declaration of these.

title	Small and medium sized companies in Kathmandu
identifier	03KTM147	local ID

as linked data

Note that the identifier of the description of a resource (e. g. of the metadata record) is not the same as the identifier of the resource itself.

metadata record
created	2010	W3CDTF
identifier	013234098	database ID
my Video
title	Medieval helpdesk with English subtitles
created	2007	W3CDTF
identifier	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ&feature=player_embedded	URI

as linked data

If no identifier from a formal identification system exist, the identifier can be generated by a bibliographic citation. The bibliographic citation can be created as text citation,

title	Prototyping Digital Library Technologies in zetoc
bibliographicCitation	Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2458, 309-323 (2002)

as linked data

or as machine readable citations.

title	Prototyping Digital Library Technologies in zetoc
bibliographicCitation	&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Lecture Notes in Computer Science&rft.volume=2458&rft.spage=309"^^info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx

as linked data

You can also structure the bibliographic information.

title	My first article about metadata
identifier
	journal title	My Favorite Journal
	volume	3
	issue	2
	start page	14
	date	2010

as linked data

For additional information on bibliographicCitation see "Guidelines for Encoding Bibliographic Citation Information in Dublin Core™ Metadata".