An authority in this context is the source or author of a set of terms which has been compiled for use in vocabulary control. Vocabularies have been created by various institutions and some of them are now so widely used that they have almost become industry standards. The needs of museums and libraries differ enough that there is no need to rigidly impose a single, standard vocabulary, so each institution has a choice as to which authority or combination of authorities they will use. Another factor that remains is the need to add "local" terms from time to time, to facilitate searching your database. This is either because you're waiting for your authority to be updated to include new terms, or because the need for these terms is specific to your institution.
A comparison of the structure and merits of some of the commonly used authorities is given in the following pages. Keep in mind that the best results might come from identifying authorities that are already trusted, understood and used by your staff. In addition to empowering the folks who actually do the work, this goes a long way toward ensuring authorities are actually used, used consistently, and used properly.
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