Although CrossRef is the best known, there are a handful of other agencies that issue DOIs with different missions, implementations, and governance.  One example that may be of interest is DataCite [1], which was formed by a consortium of national and research libraries to persist links to research datasets.

[1] http://www.datacite.org

-
Michael Witt, Purdue University
Interdisciplinary Research Librarian
Assistant Professor of Library Science
http://www.lib.purdue.edu/research/witt/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Kevin Hawkins
> Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2010 11:14 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] DOI Question
> 
> Michael,
> 
> I sense confusion between DOIs and other forms of stable identifiers.
> 
> There are various architectures for stable identifiers -- OCLC's PURL,
> the CNRI Handle System, etc.  There are a number of implementations of
> the Handle System, the most well-known of which is CrossRef's DOI.  As
> you note, CrossRef has a particular scope for what sort of content can
> get a DOI, and those who register DOIs are required to do certain
> things
> required by CrossRef.
> 
> For use case (1), I wonder if the funder really requires only a stable
> URL, not a DOI.  If a funder really requires a DOI for a website that's
> not a journal article, they're asking for something that's not really
> allowed.
> 
> For use case (2), I suppose you could run an implementation of the
> Handle System outside of DSpace that allows you to create URLs for the
> bitstreams.  I haven't worked with DSpace and have heard that it's
> difficult to modify; still, I find it surprising if you're the first to
> try this.  Perhaps ask around in the DSpace community?
> 
> Use case (3) is the most appropriate, but you'll find that CrossRef's
> membership fees are quite high.  You might set up a local
> implementation
> of the Handle System to create your own handles rather than use
> CrossRef's.  That way you get the permanent identifier without the
> fringe benefits of CrossRef membership, its obligations, and its fees.
> 
> Hope that helps,
> 
> Kevin
> 
> Michael B. Klein wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I've been investigating the possibility of assigning DOI names to
> various
> > resources. We have three different use cases, and given the structure
> of the
> > DOI Registration Agency system, I'm not sure what the best way is to
> > proceed.
> >
> > The use cases:
> >
> >    1. We've had several inquiries from faculty whose research funding
> >    requires them to publish a web site, and identify the site with a
> DOI name
> >    for citation purposes.
> >    2. We'd like to assign unique DOI names to specific bitstreams
> within our
> >    institutional repository. Despite the fact that DSpace uses a
> handle server
> >    internally, the handles it assigns resolve to metadata/landing
> pages, and
> >    there doesn't seem to be a good way to create a reliable,
> persistent link to
> >    a full text PDF that will migrate easily to a different IR system
> if and
> >    when we choose to move away from DSpace.
> >    3. We're investigating the possibility of publishing a couple
> journals,
> >    and would want to use DOI names to identify articles and related
> content.
> >
> > However, it looks like each existing DOI Registration Agency has a
> specific
> > subset of content and services they work with -- journal articles for
> one,
> > datasets for another, etc. -- and I'm not sure how to go about
> finding an
> > agency that will let us assign suffixes in a way that works with our
> varied
> > content.
> >
> > Any suggestions/experience would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Michael