Archival Resource Key
Encyclopedia
Archival Resource Key is a Uniform Resource Locator
(URL) that provides a multi-purpose identifier
given to information objects of any type. ARKs contain the label ark: in the URL, which sets the expectation that the URL terminated by '?' returns a brief metadata record, and the URL terminated by '??' returns metadata that includes a commitment statement from the current service provider.
While ARKs have application in identifier persistence, the ARK scheme sees persistence as purely a matter of service and not a property of a naming syntax. The ARK inflections '?' and '??' are designed to permit service providers to convey to users some sense of their ability to provide persistence.
http://NMAH/ark:/NAAN/Name[Qualifier]
Uniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
(URL) that provides a multi-purpose identifier
Identifier
An identifier is a name that identifies either a unique object or a unique class of objects, where the "object" or class may be an idea, physical [countable] object , or physical [noncountable] substance...
given to information objects of any type. ARKs contain the label ark: in the URL, which sets the expectation that the URL terminated by '?' returns a brief metadata record, and the URL terminated by '??' returns metadata that includes a commitment statement from the current service provider.
While ARKs have application in identifier persistence, the ARK scheme sees persistence as purely a matter of service and not a property of a naming syntax. The ARK inflections '?' and '??' are designed to permit service providers to convey to users some sense of their ability to provide persistence.
Structure
- NAAN: Name Assigning Authority Number - mandatory unique identifier of the organization that originally named the object
- NMAH: Name Mapping Authority Host - optional and replaceable hostname of an organization that currently provides service for the object
- Qualifier: optional string that extends the base ARK to support access to individual hierarchical subcomponents of an object, and to variants (versions, languages, formats) of components.
Name Assigning Authority Numbers (NAANs)
A complete NAAN registry is maintained by the California Digital Library and replicated at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the US National Library of Medicine. In 2011 it contained over 80 entries, some of which appear below.- 12025: National Library of Medicine
- 12148: Bibliothèque Nationale de FranceBibliothèque nationale de FranceThe is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
- 13030: California Digital LibraryCalifornia Digital LibraryThe California Digital Library is the University of California's 11th University Library. The CDL was founded to assist the ten University of California libraries in sharing their resources and holdings more effectively, in part through negotiating and acquiring consortial licenses on behalf of...
- 13038: World Intellectual Property OrganizationWorld Intellectual Property OrganizationThe World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world"....
- 13960: Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- 15230: Rutgers UniversityRutgers UniversityRutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
- 17101: Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK
- 20775: University of California San Diego
- 21198: University of California Los Angeles
- 25031: University of KansasUniversity of KansasThe University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
- 25593: Emory UniversityEmory UniversityEmory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
- 26677: Library and Archives CanadaLibrary and Archives CanadaLibrary and Archives Canada is a national memory institution dedicated to providing the best possible account of Canadian life through acquiring, preserving and making Canada's documentary heritage accessible for use in the 21st century and beyond...
- 27927: Portico/Ithaka Electronic-Archiving Initiative
- 28722: University of California Berkeley
- 29114: University of California San Francisco
- 39331: National Library of Hungary
- 52327: Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du QuébecBibliothèque et Archives nationales du QuébecBibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec is the Crown corporation acting as the provincial library and archives of Quebec...
- 61001: University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
- 62624: New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
- 64269: Digital Curation CentreDigital Curation Centre- Purpose :The Digital Curation Centre was established to help solve the extensive challenges of digital preservation and digital curation and to lead research, development, advice, and support services for higher education institutions in the United Kingdom...
- 65323: University of CalgaryUniversity of CalgaryThe University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
- 67531: University of North TexasUniversity of North TexasThe University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...
- 78319: GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
- 78428: University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
- 80444: Northwest Digital ArchivesNorthwest Digital ArchivesNorthwest Digital Archives is an online catalog of descriptive information about the archival collections at various institutions in the Northwestern United States...
- 81055: British LibraryBritish LibraryThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
- 88435: Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
Generic Services
Three generic ARK services have been defined. They are described below in protocol-independent terms. Delivering these services may be implemented through many possible methods given available technology (today’s or future).Access Service (access, location)
- Returns (a copy of) the object or a redirect to the same, although a sensible object proxy may be substituted (for instance a table of contents instead of a large document).
- May also return a discriminated list of alternate object locators.
- If access is denied, returns an explanation of the object’s current (perhaps permanent) inaccessibility.
Policy Service (permanence, naming, etc.)
- Returns declarations of policy and support commitments for given ARKs.
- Declarations are returned in either a structured metadata format or a human readable text format; sometimes one format may serve both purposes.
- Policy subareas may be addressed in separate requests, but the following areas should be covered:
- object permanence,
- object naming,
- object fragment addressing, and
- operational service support.
Description Service
- Returns a description of the object. Descriptions are returned in either a structured metadata format or a human readable text format; sometimes one format may serve both purposes.
- A description must at a minimum answer the who, what, when, and where questions concerning an expression of the object.
- Standalone descriptions should be accompanied by the modification date and source of the description itself.
- May also return discriminated lists of ARKs that are related to the given ARK.
See also
- Digital Object IdentifierDigital object identifierA digital object identifier is a character string used to uniquely identify an object such as an electronic document. Metadata about the object is stored in association with the DOI name and this metadata may include a location, such as a URL, where the object can be found...
(DOI) - Handle SystemHandle SystemThe Handle System is a technology specification for assigning, managing, and resolving persistent identifiers for digital objects and other resources on the Internet...
(Handle) - Persistent Uniform Resource LocatorPersistent Uniform Resource LocatorA persistent uniform resource locator is a Uniform Resource Locator that is used to redirect to the location of the requested Web resource. PURLs redirect HTTP clients using HTTP status codes...
(PURL) - Uniform Resource NameUniform Resource NameA uniform resource name is a uniform resource identifier that uses the urn scheme and does not imply availability of the identified resource. Both URNs and URLs are URIs, and a particular URI may be a name and a locator at the same time.The functional requirements for uniform resource names are...
(URN)
External links
- ARK (Archival Resource Key), California Digital LibraryCalifornia Digital LibraryThe California Digital Library is the University of California's 11th University Library. The CDL was founded to assist the ten University of California libraries in sharing their resources and holdings more effectively, in part through negotiating and acquiring consortial licenses on behalf of...
- Towards Electronic Persistence Using ARK Identifiers, California Digital Library
- The ARK Identifier Scheme - Draft 15, Internet Engineering Task ForceInternet Engineering Task ForceThe Internet Engineering Task Force develops and promotes Internet standards, cooperating closely with the W3C and ISO/IEC standards bodies and dealing in particular with standards of the TCP/IP and Internet protocol suite...
- Name-to-Thing Resolver
- EZID identifier manager