The LSID Applicability statement includes brief coverage, in Section
10, of citation styles that describe how to format the LSID for
inclusion in pages. The statement does not include how to use LSIDs to
create appropriate citations in Web pages or other documents that refer
to the referenced digital object.
For example, a Web application has an LSID reference to a Morphbank
image to be used in generating a Web page. The value of the LSID is of
secondary importance to the image itself and its metadata. The page
needs to include a version of the image, or a description of the image,
that is supported by a URL that presents more detail about the
referenced object. A typical presentation is a thumbnail of the image
and some descriptive text. Clicking on the image or text directs the
user to more detail about the image. The LSID is not directly useful
for this application. The page generator will use the LSID to fetch the
metadata and then use the metadata to generate the citations. The
metadata should include text to be used in the citation and URLs that
provide standard views of the object. In the case of images, a URL for
a thumbnail image to be used in an image tag and a URL for a standard
presentation should be included.
The issue is much more general. The presentation to a user of a
reference to a digital object needs to be useful to the user. The LSID
has no semantics and so is not useful. The general problem occurs in
any digital repository and is a subject of study within the digital
library community. The repository needs to provide standard language to
be used in making a readable citation to one of its LSIDs.
As a producer of LSIDs, the Morphbank system will provide a suggestion
as to the appropriate citation text, URLs that are appropriate for use
in image tags, the URL of the standard presentation of the object, and
copyright information. The page generation application can rely on
finding standard metadata tags for use in its pages.
I advocate that the applicability document include metadata standards
for presentation of (at least) the suggested citation text, and the URL
for the standard presentation.