In April 2007 a 2-day workshop of representative of Australian museums and herbaria was held in Canberra, with TDWG assistance, to develop recommendations for a policy to apply to adoption of Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs) within the Australasian biodiversity federation. This meeting established the business case for LSIDs and guidelines and a roadmap for LSID implementation by and for local data providers and biodiversity informatics networks (http://www.tdwg.org/fileadmin/subgroups/guid/LSID_policy_workshop_Report_Canberra.pdf).

The workshop generated recommendations for the delegation of responsibility for allocation, persistence and resolution of LSIDs within the Australian biodiversity federation and drafted a work plan for our implementation of LSID technology.

Progress against these recommendations however has not been good. Resources are limited and the integration of LSID technology into an existing biodiversity information network is not without issues. There are elements in our LSID implementation plan that require more careful consideration: ambiguity within the classes of information identified for LSID assignment; the role of LSIDs in version control and the discovery of duplication; resolution; and metadata standards and access to data in appropriate formats. A more detailed specification, beyond best practice, for the form and function of LSIDs within the biodiversity informatics context is still required.