Frequently Asked Questions

What is EZID?

EZID (easy-eye-dee) is a service that makes it simple for digital object producers (researchers and others) to obtain and manage identifiers for their objects. You can assign identifiers to anything: scientific datasets, technical reports, audio files, digital photographs, and so forth, as well as non-digital objects.

Why use EZID?

EZID helps you to take control of the management and distribution of your research, share and get credit for it, and build your reputation through its collection and documentation. EZID makes objects easier to access, re-use and verify. As a result, it also makes it easier to build on previous work, to conduct new research, and avoid duplicating previous efforts.

Who can use EZID?

EZID is available to individuals, groups and institutions within the University of California community, and beyond.

What disciplines does EZID serve?

All disciplines can benefit from using EZID. EZID transcends domain boundaries and is applicable to the sciences, humanities and the social sciences.

Can I use EZID for anything besides data?

In principle, there is nothing that you cannot use EZID to identity. EZID will work with a range of object types including numerical data, images (e.g. photos, diagram, graphs), text sequences, text (e.g. field notes, technical reports, descriptions), digital audio, digital video, modeling data, as well as physical fossils, vocabulary terms, living beings and more.

Does EZID cost anything?

The EZID service is provided on a cost-recovery basis, with pricing plans based on a modest annual subscription fee, entitling the account-holder to create and maintain an unlimited number of identifiers. For more details, please contact us.

Where should I store my datasets and other resources? Does an institution have to have an institutional repository in order to use EZID?

You may store your objects anywhere, including but not exclusively, at a local institutional repository. If your institution does not have a local repository and you would like to consult with us about storage, please contact us. We will be glad to help.

What is a persistent 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 object is moved or renamed. This means that an object can be reliably referenced for future access by humans and software.

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 is 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 is maintained.

Do I own my DOIs and ARKs?

From the standpoint that you and only you can modify the metadata associated with the identifiers you created, yes, you own your DOIs and ARKs. But, the EZID "group" to which your account belongs also has a relationship to your identifiers. We can discuss with you what your options are for group membership. CDL will make no assertions about rights to the identified objects.

How do EZID groups work?

The EZID "owner group" is a number of users that collectively inherits the identifiers owned by individuals in the group. If an individual member of a group is no longer active, for whatever reason, we will work with the group administrator to assign a new owner to the member's identifiers. The EZID group is also the mechanism by which the EZID system controls the categories of identifiers (the "prefix") an individual member can make using EZID. Lastly, we will use the group record information for billing purposes when we implement our cost recovery program.

Who should I contact for more information?

Please contact us with any questions or comments.