Handle

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Entry

Handle

Area

Identifier Standards

Standard 

The Handle System is a distributed information system for assigning, managing and resolving persistent identifiers, known as "handles," for digital objects and other resources on the Internet. Handles are most commonly mapped to 'http' URIs using the http://hdl.handle.net/ prefix or to URIs using the 'hdl' URI scheme. The protocols enable a distributed computer system to store identifiers, or handles, for digital resources and resolve those handles into the information or values to locate and access the identified resources. These values can be changed to reflect the current state of the identified resource without changing the handle, thus allowing the name of the item to persist over changes of location and other current state information. A typical Handle implementation has one server, one prefix and creates as many identifiers beginning with that prefix as needed. Work on the Handle System has received support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Standardisation 

The Handle System is not a Standard, rather it is an open set of protocols, a namespace, and a reference implementation of the protocols. It is made available by the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) under a Public License which allows commercial and non-commercial use of both its patented technology and the reference implementation of the software. The hdl URI Scheme is not listed in the IANA registry of URI Schemes.

Versions 

The HANDLE.NET software is currently at Version 6.2.

Maturity 

The Handle System is relatively mature. The first implementation, created at CNRI, was made available on the Internet in 1994.

Risk Assessment 

There are potential technical barriers to using the Handle System as it is infrastructure, not end user or off-the-shelf software.

Take-up Elsewhere 

The Handle System has evolved within the digital library community, but as a general purpose system, it can be used within any network environment managing digital objects. The Handle System web site lists current applications of Handles. These include the DOI System, CORDRA/ADL, Defense Virtual Information Architecture (DVIA) and the DSpace repository software.

Further Information 

• Handle System, Corporation for National Research Initiatives, 2006, <http://www.handle.net/>
• Handle System Overview, RFC maintained by the IETF, <http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3650.txt>
• Guidelines for using resource identifiers in Dublin Core metadata and IEEE LOM, Andy Powell, Pete Johnston, Lorna Campbell, Phil Barker, issued 2005-04-11, <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcmi-ieee/identifiers/>

Author 

Julie Allinson.

Contributors 

Date Created 

27 October 2006

Version 

v1