# 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](chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.ica.org/sites/default/files/CBPS_Guidelines_ISAAR_Second-edition_EN.pdf).


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