2026-10-28 –, LUMC01
ARK (Archival Resource Key) identifiers are decentralized, non-paywalled PIDs.
Not everyone knows that ARKs (like DOIs, Handles, URNs, and PURLs) were
introduced 25 years ago for research and scholarship, and now appear in the
Data Citation Index, Wikipedia, ORCiD profiles, etc.
In this session, learn how your institution can begin creating ARKs in 48
hours. ARK metadata is very flexible -- from none to anything; for example,
many return metadata using the DataCite profile. Learn how there is no
registration requirement for individual ARKs and how they mesh perfectly with
the IIIF images. If yours is a mature institution that already has permalinks,
you will find out how you can implement ARKs with just one line in a server
configuration file.
ARK implementers include 13 national libraries, 215 universities, 254 archives,
144 museums, 124 journals, and 59 scientific centers. Adoption is accelerating
in the global South and from institutions that need large numbers of PIDs.
John Kunze is a pioneer in the theory and practice of digital libraries. His passion for creating and sharing free, open, pragmatic digital solutions has guided his long public sector career. As a Berkeley undergrad in computer science and mathematics, he wrote software that comes pre-installed in every Mac and Linux system. He had leading roles in establishing identifier standards (URL, ARK), metadata standards (Dublin Core), archiving standards (BagIt, WARC), the Z39.50 library protocol, UC Berkeley’s first Campus Wide Information System, and repository microservices used in HathTrust and OCFL. He is currently leading the ARK Alliance (arks.org) forward and serving as a senior research associate at Drexel University, where he is working on the crowdsourced vocabulary tool, yamz.net. Full bio at jkunze.net.