Other meanings of Library of Congress Name Authority File
Library Science
The Library of Congress Name Authority File (LC NAF) is a database of authorized name headings maintained by the Library of Congress. It is a cornerstone of bibliographic control, providing standardized forms of names for persons, corporate bodies, and geographic entities used in library catalogs worldwide.
The LC NAF ensures that each distinct entity is represented by a unique, consistent heading, preventing confusion between authors with similar names and enabling collocation of works by the same person. It supports authority control in library catalogs, which is the process of verifying and maintaining the forms of names used as access points. The file is used not only by the Library of Congress but also by libraries globally, often through the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC), which contributes records under the NACO (Name Authority Cooperative) program.2
The Library of Congress began systematic authority work in 1901, with the creation of card headings for its catalog. The file was automated in the 1970s with the adoption of the MARC 21 format, and it became part of the Linked Data Service in 2009, making the headings available as Linked Open Data (LOD). This transition allowed the NAF to be integrated into the Semantic Web, enabling machine-readable connections between library data and other datasets.5
The file contains authority records for personal names, corporate bodies, meeting names, uniform titles, and geographic names. Each record includes the authorized form, cross-references from variant forms, and sources consulted. The NAF is international in scope, covering names from all languages and cultures, and it is a key component of the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), which links authority files from many national libraries.7
Beyond its primary function, the LC NAF has several niche aspects. It includes authority records for fictional characters and literary pseudonyms, such as 'Mark Twain' for Samuel Clemens. The file also documents historical name changes, such as the renaming of countries after political shifts. In the digital age, the NAF has been used to disambiguate authors in scholarly databases and to enrich digital humanities projects. Additionally, the file is a source of biographical data, as records often include birth and death dates, occupations, and associated places.8
The LC NAF is a dynamic resource, continuously updated by catalogers worldwide.
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