Digital Object Owner FAQ

What is a digital object owner?

A digital object owner is a Harvard organizational entity with financial and curatorial responsibility for digital objects deposited in the HL Digital Repository (DRS). An "organizational entity" might be a library, a museum, an archive or sometimes a department within such an organization. Every digital object stored in the HL Digital Repository must have an "Owner" associated with it. Owners are responsible for financial and curatorial decisions related to these objects.

When is owner registration necessary?

Owner registration is necessary when a Harvard organization prepares to deposit digital objects into the HL Digital Repository (DRS) for the first time. Once registered, an owner does not need to re-register for future projects involving DRS deposits.

What is a DRS owner code?

An Owner Code is the coded representation of a digital object owner (a Harvard organizational entity with financial and curatorial responsibility for objects in the DRS). An owner code (for example, HBS-BAKR) is a combination of the official chart of accounts tub value for the organization (HBS for Harvard Business School) and an LTS-designated unit code (BAKR for Baker Library) that represents the organization within the tub. DRS support staff in LTS will establish an owner code the first time a new owning organization registers to use DRS.

What is a DRS project billing code?

A project billing code is an alpha-numeric code used by LTS as a shorthand way to reference a real 33-digit accounting code when billing Harvard organizations for project and service charges. LTS recommends that there be a separate billing code for each new project that involves DRS deposit. A billing code must be associated with each object deposited to DRS. The organization will communicate this billing code to its deposit agent.

A billing code contains components that represent an organization and a specific project. Using a code rather than a real billing number makes the assignment of project billing more flexible.

A sample billing code: HBS-BAKR-TRCD_0001
"HBS-BAKR" is the Owner Code; a combination of the official chart of accounts tub value for the organization (HBS; Harvard Business School) and an LTS designated unit code (BAKR; Baker Library) that represents the organization within the tub.
"TRCD_0001" is a project designation (in this case, representing Baker's trade cards LDI project).

In this scheme, a single owner code can have associated with it one or many project designations. Also, a single project designation can be associated with more than one owner code.

What object code should I use for DRS storage?

Object code 8160 has to be used for DRS storage. This code is used for Records Storage and Protection Services, General Purchases of services for storage and protection of records, including archived administrative records, electronic records (e.g., storage of off-site backup copies), and records from library and museum collections.

When should I request a new billing code?

A project billing code must be associated with every project deposited to DRS. If you are registering your organization as a DRS object owner because a project involving DRS deposit is imminent, it would be wise to request a project billing code at the same time.

If you are registering but do not yet have a project in the works, then use the billing code request form at a later time.

How does DRS billing work?

DRS services are billed quarterly in September, December, March and June. Each bill is calculated at a quarter of the annual fee, multiplied by the amount of gigabytes in storage on the 15th of that billing month. Fees are billed to the University accounting system using the 33 digit account code associated with the DRS billing code. See the DRS Billing Policies section of The LTS Library Systems Fees & Assessments for more information.

How can I find existing billing codes for my organization?

You can find a list of existing billing codes for your organization by using DRS Web Admin.

How do I change the 33-digit account number associated with a billing code?

You can do this by using DRS Web Admin.

What is an owner-supplied name?

Owner-supplied name is a unique identifier assigned to each deposited object that relates to local information about that object. This might be an accession number or some other unique local identifier provided by the object owner. See the DRS Batch Builder Guide for more information.

What is a URN?

A URN (also called a persistent identifier or name) is a persistent, location-independent identifier for a network-accessible resource. URNs generated from the HUL Name Resolution Service (NRS) look like this (urn-3:FHCL:12345) and are used like URLs (http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:12345). See the NRS section of this web site for more information.