4.2.4.1.5 System of identifiers is adequate now and in the future Copy URL
The system of identifiers shall be adequate to fit the repository’s current and foreseeable future requirements such as numbers of objects.
This is necessary in order to ensure that each AIP can be unambiguously found in the future. This is also necessary to ensure that each AIP can be distinguished from all other AIPs in the repository.
Documentation describing naming convention and physical evidence of its application (e.g., logs).
A repository needs to ensure that there is in place an accepted, standard naming convention that identifies its materials uniquely and persistently for use both in and outside the repository. The ‘visibility’ requirement here means ‘visible’ to repository managers and auditors. It does not imply that these unique identifiers need to be visible to end users or that they serve as the primary means of access to digital objects. Ideally, the unique ID lives as long as the AIP; if it does not, there must be traceability. Subsection 4.2.1 requires that the components of an AIP be suitably bound and identified for long-term management, but places no restrictions on how AIPs are identified with files. Thus, in the general case, an AIP may be distributed over many files, or a single file may contain more than one AIP. Therefore identifiers and filenames may not necessarily correspond to each other.
The APTrust system of semantic identifiers is not strictly number and is therefore not limited by the number of objects ingested. This will help ensure that each AIP can be unambiguously found in the future, as the unique identifiers are based on bag names. The APTrust naming conventions can be found here: File and Directory Names.