Virtual International Authority File
Screenshot 2012
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| Acronym | VIAF |
|---|---|
| Managing organisation | Online Computer Library Center |
| Example | https://viaf.org/viaf/70042340 |
| Website | viaf |
The Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) is an international authority file. It is a joint project of several national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC).[1][2] The project was initiated by the German National Library and the US Library of Congress.
The aim is to link the national authority files (such as the German Name Authority File) to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together. A VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary "see" and "see also" records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are made available online and are available for research and data exchange and sharing. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative protocol.
The file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles[3] and are incorporated into Wikidata.
Contents
VIAF Clusters[edit]
VIAF's clustering algorithm is run every month. As more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records.[4]
Participating libraries and organizations[edit]
Libraries added for testing purposes[edit]
| English-language name | Native-language name (if non-English) | Location | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Institute of Informatics | Japanese: 国立情報学研究所 | Tokyo | Japan |
| National and University Library of Iceland (NULI) | Icelandic: Háskólabókasafn | Reykjavík | Iceland |
See also[edit]
- Integrated Authority File (GND)
- International Standard Name Identifier
- Wikipedia's authority control template for articles
References[edit]
- ^ Kelley, Michael; Schwartz, Meredith (2012). "VIAF service transitions to OCLC". Library Journal. Media Source. 137 (8): 16.
- ^ VIAF, OCLC.
- ^ "VIAFbot Edits 250,000 Wikipedia Articles to Reciprocate All Links from VIAF into Wikipedia". OCLC. 2012-12-07.
- ^ Hickey, Thomas B.; Toves, Jenny A. (July 2014). "Managing Ambiguity in VIAF". D-Lib Magazine. CNRI. 20 (7/8). doi:10.1045/july2014-hickey.
External links[edit]
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Wikidata has the property: VIAF ID (P214) (see uses) |
