Virtual International Authority File
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]
 Screenshot 2012 | |
| Acronym | VIAF |
|---|---|
| Organisation | OCLC |
| Introduced | 6 August 2003 |
| Example | 106965171 |
| Website | viaf |
History
Discussion about having a common international authority started in the late 1990s. After a series of failed attempts to come up with a unique common authority file, the new idea was to link existing national authorities. This would present all the benefits of a common file without requiring a large investment of time and expense in the process.[2]
The VIAF concept was introduced at the 2003 World Library and Information Congress, hosted by the International Federation of Library Associations.[3] The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress (LC), the German National Library (DNB) and the OCLC on 6 August 2003.[4][5] The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) joined the project on 5 October 2007.
The project transitioned to being a service of the OCLC on 4 April 2012.[6]
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 is made available online and are available for research and data exchange and sharing. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) protocol.
The file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata.[7][8]
Christine L. Borgman groups VIAF with the International Standard Name Identifier and ORCID systems, describing all three as "loosely coordinated efforts to standardize name forms".[9] Borgman characterizes all three systems as attempts to solve the problem of author name disambiguation, which has grown in scale as the quantity of data multiplies.[9] She notes that VIAF, unlike the other two systems, is led by libraries, as opposed to individual authors or creators.[9]
VIAF clusters
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.[10]
Participating libraries and organizations
| English Wikipedia entry name | Identifier | Native-language name | Location | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bibliotheca Alexandrina | EGAXA | Arabic: مكتبة الإسكندرية | Alexandria | Egypt |
| Biblioteca Nacional de Chile | BNCHL | Spanish: Biblioteca Nacional de Chile | Santiago | Chile |
| Biblioteca Nacional de España | BNE | Spanish: Biblioteca Nacional de España | Madrid | Spain |
| Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal | PTBNP | Portuguese: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal | Lisbon | Portugal |
| Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec | B2Q | French: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec | Quebec | Canada |
| Bibliothèque nationale de France | BnF | French: Bibliothèque nationale de France | Paris | France |
| National Library of Greece | ΕΒΕ | Greek: Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη της Ελλάδος | Athens | Greece |
| Bibliothèque Nationale du Royaume du Maroc (BNRM) | MRBNR | Arabic: المكتبة الوطنية للمملكة المغربية French: Bibliothèque nationale du Royaume du Maroc |
Rabat | Morocco |
| Biografisch Portaal | BPN | Dutch: Biografisch Portaal | The Hague | Netherlands |
| British Library | – | London | England | |
| Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces | Danish: Kulturstyrelsen | Copenhagen | Denmark | |
| Danish Bibliographic Centre | DBC | Danish: Dansk BiblioteksCenter | Ballerup | Denmark |
| German National Library (DNB) | GND | German: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek | Frankfurt | Germany |
| International Standard Name Identifier | ISNI | – | London | United Kingdom |
| Israel Museum | Hebrew: מוזיאון ישראל | Jerusalem | Israel | |
| Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico | ICCU SBN |
Italian: Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico | Rome | Italy |
| Lebanese National Library | LNL | Arabic: المكتبة الوطنية | Beirut | Lebanon |
| Library and Archives Canada | LAC | French: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada | Ottawa, Ontario | Canada |
| Library of Congress NACO consortium (Name Authority Cooperative Program) |
LCCN | – | Washington, D.C. | United States |
| National and University Library in Zagreb | NSK | Croatian: Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica u Zagrebu | Zagreb | Croatia |
| National and University Library of Slovenia | Slovene: Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica | Ljubljana | Slovenia | |
| National Central Library | NCL CYT |
Chinese: 國家圖書館 | Taipei | Taiwan |
| National Diet Library | NDL | Japanese: 国立国会図書館 | Tokyo Kyoto | Japan |
| National Institute of Informatics | NII CiNii |
Japanese: 国立情報学研究所 | Tokyo | Japan |
| National Library Board | NLB | – | – | Singapore |
| National Library of Australia | NLA | – | Canberra | Australia |
| National Library of Brazil | BLBNB | Portuguese: Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil |
| National Library of Catalonia | BNC | Catalan: Biblioteca de Catalunya | Barcelona | Spain |
| National Library of Estonia | ERRR | Estonian: Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu | Tallinn | Estonia |
| National and University Library of Iceland (NULI) | UIY | Icelandic: Háskólabókasafn | Reykjavík | Iceland |
| National Library of Ireland | N6I | Irish: Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann | Dublin | Ireland |
| National Library of Israel | NLI | Hebrew: הספרייה הלאומית | Jerusalem | Israel |
| National Library of Korea | KRNLK | Korean: 국립중앙도서관 | Seoul | Korea |
| National Library of Latvia | LNB | Latvian: Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka | Riga | Latvia |
| National Library of Luxembourg | BNL | Luxembourgish: Nationalbibliothéik Lëtzebuerg French: Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg |
Luxembourg City | Luxembourg |
| National Library of Mexico | BNM | Spanish: Biblioteca Nacional de México | Mexico City | Mexico |
| National Library of the Netherlands | NTA | Dutch: Koninklijke Bibliotheek | The Hague | Netherlands |
| National Library of New Zealand | – | Wellington | New Zealand | |
| National Library of Norway | BIBSYS W2Z |
Norwegian: Nasjonalbiblioteket | Trondheim | Norway |
| National Library of Poland | NLP | Polish: Biblioteka Narodowa | Warsaw | Poland |
| National Library of Russia | NLR | Russian: Российская национальная библиотека | Saint Petersburg | Russia |
| National Library of Scotland | Scottish Gaelic: Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba Scots: Naitional Leebrar o Scotland |
Edinburgh | Scotland | |
| National Library of South Africa | Afrikaans: Staats-Bibliotheek der Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek | Cape Town Pretoria | South Africa | |
| National Library of Sweden | SELIBR | Swedish: Kungliga biblioteket - Sveriges nationalbibliotek | Stockholm | Sweden |
| National Library of Wales | Welsh: Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru | Aberystwyth | Wales | |
| National Library of the Czech Republic | NKC | Czech: Národní knihovna České republiky | Prague | Czech Republic |
| National Széchényi Library | NSZL | Hungarian: Országos Széchényi Könyvtár | Budapest | Hungary |
| Perseus Project | PERSEUS | – | Medford, Massachusetts | United States |
| RERO (Library Network of Western Switzerland) | RERO | German: Westschweizer Bibliothekverbund French: Réseau des bibliothèques de Suisse occidentale Italian: Rete delle bibliotheche della Svizzera occidentale |
Martigny | Switzerland |
| Répertoire International des Sources Musicales | RISM | – | Frankfurt | Germany |
| Système universitaire de documentation | SUDOC | French: Système universitaire de documentation | – | France |
| Syriac Reference Portal | SRP | – | Nashville, Tennessee | United States |
| Swiss National Library | SWNL | German: Schweizerische Nationalbibliothek French: Bibliothèque nationale suisse Italian: Biblioteca nazionale svizzera Romansh: Biblioteca naziunala svizra |
Bern | Switzerland |
| Narodowy Uniwersalny Katalog Centralny, NUKAT | NUKAT | Polish: Narodowy Uniwersalny Katalog Centralny | – | Poland |
| Union List of Artist Names – Getty Research Institute | ULAN JPG |
– | Los Angeles, California | United States |
| United States National Agricultural Library | NALT | – | Beltsville, Maryland | United States |
| United States National Library of Medicine | – | Bethesda, Maryland | United States | |
| Vatican Library | BAV | Latin: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana | – | Vatican City |
| Cultuurconnect (Bibnet and LOCUS) | Dutch: Vlaamse Centrale Catalogus | Brussels | Belgium | |
| Wikidata | WKP | – | Berlin, Germany | International |
Libraries added for testing purposes
| English Wikipedia entry name | Identifier | Native-language name | Location | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lithuanian National Library | LIH | Lithuanian: Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka | Vilnius | Lithuania |
| National and University Library of Slovenia / COBISS | SIMACOB | Slovene: Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, NUK | Ljubljana | Slovenia |
See also
- Authority control
- Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST)
- Integrated Authority File (GND)
- International Standard Authority Data Number (ISADN)
- International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI)
- Wikipedia's authority control template for articles
References
- Kelley, Michael; Schwartz, Meredith (2012). "VIAF service transitions to OCLC". Library Journal. Media Source Inc. 137 (8): 16.
- O'Neill, Edward T. (12 August 2016). "VIAF: Origins". Authority Data on the Web, a Satellite Meeting of the 2016 IFLA World Library and Information Congress. OCLC. Archived from the original (Video presentation) on 13 July 2018.
- Loesch, Martha Fallahay (28 February 2011). "The Virtual International Authority File". Technical Services Quarterly. 28 (2): 255–256. doi:10.1080/07317131.2011.546304. ISSN 0731-7131. S2CID 62694070.
- Morris, Susan R. (September 2003). "Virtual International Authority". Library of Congress Information Bulletin. Library of Congress. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Agnew, Grace (2008). Digital Rights Management: A Librarian's Guide to Technology and Practise. Chandos Publishing. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-84334-125-3. OCLC 62715356.
- Murphy, Bob (4 April 2012). "Virtual International Authority File service transitions to OCLC; contributing institutions continue to shape direction through VIAF Council" (Press release). OCLC. Dublin, OH.
- Klein, Max; Renspie, Melissa (7 December 2012). "VIAFbot Edits 250,000 Wikipedia Articles to Reciprocate All Links from VIAF into Wikipedia". OCLC.
- Klein, Maximilian; Kyrios, Alex (14 October 2013). "VIAFbot and the Integration of Library Data on Wikipedia". The Code4Lib Journal (22). ISSN 1940-5758.
- Borgman 2015, p. 260.
- Hickey, Thomas B.; Toves, Jenny A. (July 2014). "Managing Ambiguity In VIAF". D-Lib Magazine. Corporation for National Research Initiatives. 20 (7/8). doi:10.1045/july2014-hickey.
Sources
- Borgman, Christine L. (2015). Big Data, Little Data, No Data: Scholarship in the Networked World. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-32786-2. OCLC 900409008.
External links
VIAF ID (P214) (see uses)
