Designing an Innovative Authority Control System in a PC Environment

Abstract

For libraries without an integrated online catalog equipped with an automated authority control function, the maintenance of an authority file is a highly complex and time‐consuming task. Although LC′s name and series authority records are readily available on OCLC, neither holdings nor local information can be added to these records and retained for future use. For the most part, libraries resort to maintaining a local authority file on 3 × 5 cards to assist in cataloging decision‐making.