Metadata and authority control

A variety of information communities have developed metadata schemes to mee t the needs of their own users. The ability of libraries to incorporate and use multiple metadata schemes in current library systems will depend on th e compatibility of imported data with existing catalog data. Authority cont rol will play an important role in metadata interoperability. In this artic le, I discuss factors for successful authority control in current library c atalogs, which include operation in a well-defined and bounded universe, ap plication of principles and standard practices to access point creation, re ference to authoritative lists, and bibliographic record creation by highly trained individuals. Metadata characteristics and environmental models are examined and the likelihood of successful authority control is explored fo r a variety of metadata environments.