Biodiversity Collections Index

How to quote BCI GUIDs in your work.

How you quote a BCI identifier depends on the medium you are quoting it in (print, hyperlinked document or XML) and whether there is already a convention for use of codes (abbreviations or acronyms) in your particular domain. If these guidelines do not make it absolutely clear how to cite BCI GUIDs please raise your issues in thediscussion forum so we can clarify the instructions.

Two Forms of GUID

Firstly you must appreciate the two forms of BCI GUID.

Displayed at the top of each collection's page is the LSID for the collection. It is of the form urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:14899. The LSID is displayed as a web link. If you click on it you will see the same page displayed again but the address in the browser's location bar will look like this http://biocol.org/urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:14899. This is the proxied form of the LSID. It is just the same as the LSID but with "http://biocol.org/" on the front. These are the two forms of GUID, regular LSID and proxied LSID. The proxied form behaves just like a normal URL you would use to visit any web page.

Use in Print

If you are quoting a BCI identifier in print you must follow the guideline of the publication and any conventions used in your subject area. If convention requires you to use a recognised code, such as an Index Herbariorum acronym, then use that code but add a footnote containing the proxied form of the LSID for that collection. If a code is not available for that particular collection or there is no convention to use particular codes in your domain then you should cite the non-proxied form of the LSID in the text but still add the footnote of the proxied form of the LSID.

Use in Online Documents

If you are creating a hyperlinked document in formats such as HTML or PDF and there is a convention for the use of particular codes then you should use the appropriate code but it should be presented as a hyperlink with the URL of the hyperlink being the proxied form of the GUID. If the code isn't available then the non-proxied LSID should appear in the text (as if it were a code) as a link to the proxied form. If the document is most likely to be printed rather than read on line (like many PDFs) then the proxied form should be used as a footnote as well - as it would for printed documents.

Confused?

Put more simply you should:- Cite the conventional collection code (or the plain LSID if there isn't a code available) and add the proxied LSID either as a footnote or the address of a hyperlink or both.

Use in XML

If the collection identifier appears in an XML document as a non-validated string value then use the regular LSID form.

If the collection identifier appears in a string validated as xs:anyURI then use the proxied form. (It would be valid to use the regular LSID form in these situations but it is highly likely that the receiving application is expecting an http:// style URI and will not be able to handle a regular LSID. The proxy form is therefore recommended.).

Use in RDF and OWL

Both the regular and proxied forms should always appear as rdf:resources as they are valid URIs. For general usability it is recommended to use the proxied form over the regular LSID form. If the opportunity arises then a resource for the regular form should be added and an owl:sameAs property used to link the two resources. An example of this use can be seen in every LSID metadata response from BCI - just click the RDF link on a collection's page.

Use in Darwin Core and ABCD Exchange Standards

You should use the regular form of the GUID in the CollectionCode field of your Darwin Core records when those records describes a specimen stored in a collection. If you have a preferred code for collection that holds the specimen then you should place it in the InstitutionCode field.

The same approach should be taken for equivalent fields in ABCD documents.

Tell Us About It

If you use BCI GUIDs in your published work please drop an email to admin@BiodiversityCollectionsIndex.org with a link to, or copy of the paper. This would be very useful for our reporting of BCI success.

System Status

This web site is currently in the beta phase of development. It should be fully functional but there may be minor issues. Please report problems to the administrator.