|
|
|
Research : Activities : VIAF (The Virtual International Authority File)
VIAF (The Virtual International Authority File)A joint project with the Library of Congress, the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, in cooperation with an expanding number of other national libraries and other agencies, VIAF explores virtually combining the name authority files of participating institutions into a single name authority service. As of the winter of 2011 there are 21 authority files of personal, corporate, and conference names from 18 organizations participating in VIAF. ImpactMost large libraries maintain lists of names for people, corporations, conferences, and geographic places, as well as lists to control works and other entities. These lists, or authority files, have been developed and maintained in distinctive ways by individual library communities around the world. The differences in how to approach this work become evident as library data from many communities is combined in shared catalogs such as OCLC's WorldCat. VIAF's goal is to make library authority files less expensive to maintain and more generally useful to the library domain and beyond. To achieve this, VIAF seeks to include authoritative names from many libraries into a global service that is available via the Web. By linking disparate names for the same person or organization, VIAF provides a convenient means for a wider community of libraries and other agencies to repurpose bibliographic data produced by libraries serving different language communities. More specifically, the VIAF service:
In addition to providing Web-accessible identification of entities of interest to libraries, VIAF has the potential to enable localization of bibliographic data by making local versions of names (e.g., in different scripts, spellings, or other variations), available for searching and display. For example, German users will be able to see a name displayed in the form established by the DNB, while French users will see the same name as established by the BnF, and English-speaking users will view the name as established by the LC/NACO file. Users in their respective countries are able to view name records as established by the others, making the authorities truly international and facilitating research across languages anywhere in the world. GovernanceVIAF consortium members are governed by the VIAF Cooperative Agreement. Under it, all key decisions rest with the Principals. Participants are accorded input into setting the agenda and direction for the VIAF project. Official representatives make the binding commitments for their organizations, while operational contacts are responsible for the actual work Application processAgencies that wish to participate in VIAF must apply. The application process requires submission of test files of bibliographic and authority files from the participating agency to the VIAF consortium. OCLC Research—on behalf of the VIAF consortium—processes the records to match name headings from the source files with VIAF records built from content previously supplied by other VIAF consortium members. If an agency's application is successful, the agency enters into agreement and sends its full bibliographic and authority files to OCLC Research with updates sent on a regular cycle. To initiate an application to participate, use the VIAF feedback form. New participants receive reports and assist OCLC Research in making process adjustments as needed. The new content is published to the VIAF Web site. OutputsBrochures, etc.
Presentation(s)
Miscellaneous papers, etc.
Documentation
Team Members
Most recent updates: page content 15 March 2011, prototype 16 October 07. |
Librarians' Toolbox:- Bibliographic Formats and Standards
- Find an OCLC library
- System alerts
- Online Service Center
- More ››
|
OCLC is a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs. More than 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories around the world have used OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials. |
OCLC Headquarters |
|
