Name Authority Files

Introduction

Wellcome’s use of name authority files serves three functions:

• to ensure that all occurrences of a significant individual or body in our holdings are linked and described using a consistent, standard form of a name.

• to provide a central location for background information on that individual or body, removing the need for cataloguers to repeat research already carried out.

• to hold that information in a standardised form so that it can be exported and form a resource for other repositories holding material by that individual or body.

The basis for the authority files generated at Wellcome is the ISAAR(CPF) standard.