EZID: Learn About EZID

What Is EZID?

What is EZID?

EZID (easy-eye-dee) makes it easy for University of California (UC) scholars and researchers to create and manage long-term, globally unique identifiers for data and sources, ensuring their future discoverability. Use EZID to:

Create identifiers for anything: texts, data, bones, terms, etc.
Manage your research objects more easily with shareable, unbreakable links
Store citation information for the objects in a variety of formats
Fit identifiers into your automated workflows with our standards-based API

Why use EZID?

Open data, open science, open access initiatives are spreading

EZID provides a great way to promote open sharing, because it allows the content creator to establish a permanent link to the object.
When the object gets cited by others, even if is moved to a new location, the citation reference will always work, as long as the metadata is updated.
EZID itself is built with open source components, and clients are contributing open source add-ons as well.
EZID is also linked to Crossref, a huge benefit for UC's non-profit open-access publishers that want CrossRef services for their journals.

Funders demand management, tracking, and use of identifiers

Using identifiers and data management plans, such as those provided by the DMP Tool, will save you time and resources in the long run. This planning helps to ensure that your data will be usable and discoverable in the future and complies with funder requirements.
EZID services can help. Contact your university library and ask for EZID.

The changing role of the library, with scholarly communication evolving to include data

As your Library develops data management and data curation services, you are looking for ways to reach out to scholars and meet their data-related needs.
EZID is flexible, affordable and extensible, allowing the Library to sponsor access for all scholars on a campus.
The Library can become known as the go-to place for data citation, data sharing, and data management.

Storage has gone global

University of California researchers and staff can use EZID to register persistent identifiers for their research outputs, making them findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
You will appreciate the automated workflows available with EZID's easy application programming interface (API), its standards-based processes, and the growing community of support.

Current Users

Please note all of the following links go to external websites.

Current users

UC Berkeley Library (on behalf of the UC Berkeley campus) http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/
UC Davis Library (on behalf of the UC Davis campus) http://lib.ucdavis.edu/
UC Irvine Libraries (on behalf of the UC Irvine campus) http://www.lib.uci.edu/
UC Los Angeles Library (on behalf of the UC LA campus) http://www.library.ucla.edu/
UC Merced Library (on behalf of the UC Merced campus) http://library.ucmerced.edu/
UC Natural Reserve System http://www.ucnrs.org/
UC Riverside Library (on behalf of the UC Riverside campus) http://library.ucr.edu/
UC San Diego Library (on behalf of the UC San Diego campus) http://libraries.ucsd.edu/
UC San Francisco Library (on behalf of the UC San Francisco campus) http://www.library.ucsf.edu/
UC Santa Barbara Library (on behalf of the UC Santa Barbara campus) http://www.library.ucsb.edu/
UC Santa Cruz Library (on behalf of the UC Santa Cruz campus) http://library.ucsc.edu/
American University of Beirut, University Libraries http://www.aub.edu.lb/ulibraries
bioCADDIE https://biocaddie.org/
Blavatnik Archive Foundation http://www.blavatnikarchive.org/
Centre national de documentation pédagogique http://www.cndp.fr/
Chicago Collections Consortium http://chicagocollections.org/
Dartmouth College Library (on behalf of the College) http://library.dartmouth.edu/
Duke University Library (on behalf of Duke University) http://library.duke.edu
Facebase Consortium https://www.facebase.org/
Iowa State University http://www.lib.iastate.edu/
Laboratory of Computational Physiology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) http://lcp.mit.edu/
Marine and Coastal Research Institute of Columbia (INVEMAR) http://www.invemar.org.co
Michigan State University Libraries http://www.lib.msu.edu/
National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) http://collections.nmnh.si.edu
Northwestern University http://www.northwestern.edu
Princeton University Firestone Library http://library.princeton.edu/
TeachPitch https://www.teachpitch.com/
Université Claude Bernard Lyon Library http://www.univ-lyon1.fr/
University of Illinois at Chicago http://library.uic.edu
University of Nevada University Libraries (on behalf of the UNLV campus) http://www.library.unlv.edu
University of Pennsylvania Libraries (on behalf of the University) http://www.library.upenn.edu/
University of Utah Library (on behalf of the University of Utah campus)http://www.lib.utah.edu/
Utah State University Library (on behalf of the Utah State campus) https://library.usu.edu/
Washington University in St. Louis http://www.wustl.edu

Documentation

Non-technical Documentation

Understanding Identifiers

What is a long-term identifier?

An identifier is an association between a character string and an object. Objects can be files, parts of files, names of persons or organizations, abstractions, etc. Objects can be online or offline. Character strings include URLs, serial numbers, names, addresses, etc. A "persistent identifier" is an identifier that is available and managed over time; it will not change if the item is moved or renamed. This means that an item can be reliably referenced for future access by humans and software. EZID currently supports persistence for two kinds of identifiers: DataCite Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) and lower-cost Archival Resource Keys (ARKs).

What is a DOI?

DOI stands for "Digital Object Identifier." It is an identifier originating from the publishing world and in widespread use for journal articles. DOIs become persistent when the objects and identifier forwarding information are maintained.

What is an ARK?

ARK stands for "Archival Resource Key." It is an identifier originating from the library, archive and museum community. ARKs become persistent when the objects and identifier forwarding information are maintained.

Can DOIs and ARKs be used together?

ARK identifiers have certain features that can be very useful for:

Keeping track of many granules of a dataset (ARKs will be able to "pass through" a suffix, so many thousands of items can be referenced on the basis of a single registration);
Keeping track of data before a decision has been made about whether or not it is going to be retained (ARKs can be deleted).

This can make it attractive to use ARKs during the early part of a dataset's "life" or the early stages of the research process. Then, when the time comes to begin writing up results and it becomes clear which object(s) will be cited, it may appropriate to get DOIs for those objects.

DOIs have the citation-level "reputation" and it is possible to use the ARK of the cited object as the "suffix" for the DOI so that there is a traceable connection between the two. Here is what that means:

Step 1. You assign an ARK to a resource for good management and tracking: ark:/99999/fk4sf2w65j

Step 2. You decide to cite the resource, so you want a DOI.

Step 3. Using either the Advanced Create UI or the API, request a doi with this form: doi:10.5072/FK2fk4sf2w65j

In this way, the two identifiers have a relationship, so the object can be tracked throughout its life cycle. With EZID, clients get access to both of these identifiers and can take best advantage of both approaches.

What is identifier resolution?

Instead of leading directly to an object, one identifier frequently points to another, or "target URL", that leads directly to the object. The process of getting to the final target name, possibly via a chain of intermediate names, is called "resolution." Resolution on the web is usually fast and invisible. It is done behind the scenes on your behalf by web browsers. Unsuccessful resolution, however, usually means visible failure to access the object that you were expecting, resulting in a "broken identifier." Objects tend to move, so identifier persistence depends on resolution using up-to-date target URLs. To make this happen, EZID provides a way for people to update target URLs as they change when objects move around. This is very similar to leaving a forwarding address when you change your residence. As the starting point for resolution, the resolver effectively lets you publicize an unchanging identifier that you maintain so that it will consistently hit a target that may be moving. EZID currently updates two resolvers: N2T (Name-to-Thing) based at n2t.net and the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) resolver based at doi.dx.org.

What is metadata?

Metadata is information (data) about the object, such as the name of the object's creator, the date of creation, the target URL, the version of the object, its title, and so on. EZID allows the user to enter metadata at the same time as an identifier is requested. Associating metadata with identifiers enables more sophisticated mechanisms for digital content discovery and higher-level assurances of long-term persistence.

Who should I contact for more information?

Please contact us with any questions or comments. Also, see Identifier Basics for more information about the identifier practices implemented by the EZID team.

EZID Service Guidelines