PIDfest 26

What practical steps do I need to consider to get persistent identification for cultural heritage collections? Broken or unstable identifiers threaten connections between collections, users and external references. PIDs can help keep knowledge connected, but introducing them in an established environment presents technical, operational, and governance challenges. It involves understanding how identifiers are already used, making informed infrastructure choices, and addressing the impact on both internal workflows and external references. This session follows that progression, moving from an initial assessment of the identifier landscape within the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR) to implementation decisions, migration challenges, and finally the governance needed to support persistence over time. While the presentation focuses on practical experience, it also highlights key considerations that may help you reflect on your own approach.
To address these challenges, you first need a clear understanding of the identifiers already present in your systems. In a national library context, these include bibliographic and authority identifiers, acquisition records, call numbers, and external standards such as ISBN or ISSN. Not all are intended to persist or to be publicly resolvable. Mapping this landscape helps clarify their roles, how they circulate, and which ones are suitable candidates for persistence.
Once this landscape is mapped, the focus shifts to how persistence can be implemented in a sustainable way. A key consideration is whether to rely on an external PID service or to integrate PID management into existing cataloguing infrastructure. Each option comes with trade-offs in terms of maintenance, cost, dependency, and control.
These choices only become meaningful when they are integrated into existing day-to-day workflows. Identifiers are not only part of digital systems but also appear in physical collections and routine practices, such as labelling or annotation. Aligning technical implementation with these practices is necessary to ensure consistent use.
At the same time, existing references cannot be ignored, as many identifiers are already used beyond the institution. External systems, publications, or databases may rely on identifiers that were not designed to persist. Introducing PIDs therefore requires a migration approach that limits disruption and reduces the risk of broken links, helping ensure that knowledge already referenced externally stays connected to your collections.
Managing this transition also raises questions about how changes in records are communicated over time. Situations such as merges, deletions, or updates require clear signalling to both human users and machine clients, supported by appropriate redirection and metadata practices.
These technical and operational decisions ultimately depend on clear governance and long-term commitment. Defining an overall policy supported by careful documentation of workflows and decisions, helps ensure that persistence is not only implemented but maintained over time. Building understanding and engagement among staff is equally important, as PIDs are only effective if embedded in everyday practices. Through this presentation, you may gain ideas from the steps taken, lessons learned, and challenges encountered at KBR, which could inform your own approach to implementing persistent identifiers.