n.an entry in an authority file that not only specifies the standardized form of a name or subject heading but also provides contextual informationRush et al. 2008, 217, fn. 14Encoded Archival Context is an XML standard currently under development for encoding archival authority records.Crowe and Clair 2015SNAC has chosen to focus on the mass production and disambiguation of as many unique archival authority records as possible—not only creating the records but creating a process to identify matching authority records in the Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF), Union List of Artist Names (ULAN), and Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) and using the data in these authority files to enhance the EAC-CPF records.Sweetser and Orchard 2019, 358However, with the rise of tools like ArchivesSpace providing public collection access and authority management, archival authority record creation is likely to be an area of growth. As archivists continue to create their own authority records, the desire and need to share these records and make them reusable (i.e., the use of EAC-CPF standard for interoperability) will increase.DACS 2019, 80Archival authority records do not merely record contextual information, they also provide a means of standardizing access points and the contextual information. They are similar to library authority records in that both support the creation of standardized access points in descriptions. Such standardization has two aspects: consistency and uniqueness.DACS 2019, 81While archival authority records and the bibliographic authority records used in library systems are similar, they differ in significant ways. A bibliographic authority record consists of an authorized heading that standardizes the form of the name, as well as other information elements that describe the named entity or point to other authority records. Archival authority records contain the following elements similar to bibliographic authority records: ¶ • The authority entry (i.e., a standardized access point established by an archival agency uniquely identifying the corporate body, person, or family associated with the creation of the archival materials) ¶ • References to related names and variant names ¶ • Documentation of how the authority record was established and maintained ¶ Beyond this, archival authority records support a much wider set of requirements than library authority records. These additional requirements derive from the importance of documenting the context of records creation in archival description and control systems. As such, archival authority records usually contain much more information than library authority records.Roke and Tillman 2022, 198, fn. 46What about EAD/EAC-CPF and the like? These encoding standards provide one method of encoding the elements outlined in the content standards. They serve a particular function: to encode an indexable finding aid or archival authority record.
