Virtual International Authority File

File:VIAF Screenshot 2012.png in 2012]]

Discussions about having a joint international authority started in the late 1990s. After several failed attempts to develop a unique joint authority file, the new idea was to link existing national authorities. This would present all the benefits of a standard file without requiring a significant investment of time and expense in the process.{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC4Gt5xXLzo | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713143859/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC4Gt5xXLzo| archive-date=2018-07-13|title=VIAF: Origins |last=O'Neill |first=Edward T. |date=12 August 2016 |website=Authority Data on the Web, a Satellite Meeting of the 2016 IFLA World Library and Information Congress |publisher=OCLC |format=Video presentation}}

The project was initiated by the American Library of Congress (LOC), the German National Library (DNB), and the OCLC in April 1998 as a proof-of-concept that authority records can be linked.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oclc.org/en/viaf.html|title=VIAF: Convenient access to name authority files|date=20 December 2019|website=OCLC}} After extensive testing, the VIAF consortium was formed at the 2003 World Library and Information Congress, hosted by the International Federation of Library Associations.{{Cite journal|last=Loesch|first=Martha Fallahay|date=2011-02-28|title=The Virtual International Authority File|journal=Technical Services Quarterly|language=en|volume=28|issue=2|pages=255–256|doi=10.1080/07317131.2011.546304|s2cid=62694070|issn=0731-7131}} on 6 August 2003,{{Cite web|last=Morris|first=Susan R.|date=September 2003|title=Virtual International Authority|url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0309/authority.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-05|website=Library of Congress Information Bulletin|publisher=Library of Congress}}{{Cite book|last=Agnew|first=Grace|title=Digital Rights Management: A Librarian's Guide to Technology and Practise|publisher=Chandos Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84334-125-3|page=180|oclc=62715356}} and by September it had its own page at the OCLC website.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/viaf/default.htm|title=Virtual international authority file [OCLC - Projects]|date=21 September 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030921104347/http://www.oclc.org/research/projects/viaf/default.htm |archive-date=21 September 2003 }} The {{lang|fr|Bibliothèque nationale de France|italic=no}} (BnF) joined the project on 5 October 2007.

The project transitioned to being a service of the OCLC on 4 April 2012.{{Cite web |url=http://www.oclc.org/en/news/releases/2012/201224.html |title=Virtual International Authority File service transitions to OCLC; contributing institutions continue to shape direction through VIAF Council |last=Murphy |first=Bob |date=4 April 2012 |website=OCLC |location=Dublin, OH |language=en |format=Press release}}

The aim is to link the national authority files (such as the German Integrated 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 documents, and refers to the original authority records. The data is made available online and is 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.{{Cite news |last1=Klein |first1=Max |url=http://www.oclc.org/research/news/2012/12-07a.html |title=VIAFbot Edits 250,000 Wikipedia Articles to Reciprocate All Links from VIAF into Wikipedia |date=7 December 2012 |work=OCLC |last2=Renspie |first2=Melissa}}{{Cite journal |last1=Klein |first1=Maximilian |last2=Kyrios |first2=Alex |date=14 October 2013 |title=VIAFbot and the Integration of Library Data on Wikipedia |url=http://journal.code4lib.org/articles/8964 |journal=The Code4Lib Journal |issue=22 |issn=1940-5758}}

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".{{Sfn|Borgman|2015|p=260}} 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.{{Sfn|Borgman|2015|p=260}} She notes that VIAF, unlike the other two systems, is led by libraries, as opposed to individual authors or creators.{{Sfn|Borgman|2015|p=260}}

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.{{Cite journal |last1=Hickey |first1=Thomas B. |last2=Toves |first2=Jenny A. |date=July 2014 |title=Managing Ambiguity In VIAF |url=http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july14/hickey/07hickey.html |journal=D-Lib Magazine |publisher=Corporation for National Research Initiatives |volume=20 |issue=7/8 |doi=10.1045/july2014-hickey|doi-access=free }}

• 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

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|last=Borgman|first=Christine L.|author-link=Christine L. Borgman|url=https://archive.org/details/bigdatalittledat0000borg|url-access=registration|title=Big Data, Little Data, No Data: Scholarship in the Networked World|isbn=978-0-262-32786-2|publisher=MIT Press|oclc=900409008|year=2015}}

{{Commons category|VIAF}}

{{Wikidata property|1=P214}}

• {{Official website}}
• [http://www.oclc.org/en/viaf.html VIAF] at OCLC

{{International numbering standards}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Identifiers

Category:Library cataloging and classification

Category:Library of Congress

Category:OCLC