Reviews history of events leading to the Linked Systems Project and describes two major components: communications facility and applications programs. The initial application--sharing of authority data based on the Library of Congress Name Authority Cooperative Project--is discussed, and future applications and their implications are briefly…

Describes and analyzes various methods of automated authority control currently available and suggests questions to ask when considering purchase of system. Highlights include manual versus automated authority control and levels of service in automated authority systems (network, vendor). Glossary of terminology and list of networks and vendors…