Registries

Registries are organized collections of information about items, people, events, or phenomena within a defined domain. They are designed to be authoritative sources of record and are used to support administration, policy making, research, and service delivery. Registries can be centralized or distributed, and may be open to public access or restricted to authorized users. They typically include records or entries, unique identifiers, timestamps, and data quality controls, as well as procedures for submission, validation, updating, and archival.

Civil and vital registries collect records of births, deaths, marriages, and changes of name, providing a formal register for a jurisdiction. Health registries track diseases, procedures, treatments, and outcomes to support surveillance, epidemiology, and quality improvement. Property and land registries maintain records of ownership, liens, parcel boundaries, and rights associated with real estate. Vehicle registrations, business registries, and professional registries document status and licenses. Intellectual property registries handle trademarks, patents, registrations, and designs, while domain name registries manage the allocation of internet names. In information technology, software and package registries host components and their metadata, versions, and dependencies to enable distribution and reuse.

Governance and interoperability are central to registry design. Good registries rely on clear data standards, consistent definitions, data validation, and robust provenance and auditing. Many registries manage sensitive or personal information, requiring privacy protections, consent mechanisms where applicable, and strong security controls. Data quality, timeliness, and long-term sustainability are common challenges, as are fragmentation across jurisdictions and legal variation. When well managed, registries support public administration, research, industry, and citizens by providing reliable, standardized, and accessible records.