PERSISTENT IDENTIFIERS:WHAT IF?

15/19 – Resolvable

"… you see … the location has changed, how lucky I am I can still trace it!"
"Yes you are! As a matter of fact resolution services guarantee that PIDs are linked to their current resource URLs even when the latter change.
So, don't mix up resolution with retrieval, which is the ability of systems to access and download digital resources by clicking on URLs."
Resolvable
Choice to use PIDs does not imply that an external human user will be able to access anything that they can use effectively.

Therefore:
Organisations should be clear, and make public, information about which, if any, their PIDs resolve to an available resource. Persistent Identifiers (PIDs): recommendations for institutions (PDF) by Gordon McKenna and Roxanne Wyns.