The personal name authority catalogues: purposes and metadata

This article aims to identify the current purpose(s) of personal name authority catalogues, based on the metadata (elements/attributes) that have been included in said catalogues, after the application of standards of normalization. To achieve the objective, documentary analysis was used as a research method, so that a review and analysis of the existing literature was made around authority control, authority catalogs and normalization standards used in the development of these catalogs. The analysis of the information located in the literature was done under a qualitative approach with a descriptive scope. It was identified that the control of authority over personal names, and its realization through the application of standards such as the GARE, the GARR and AACR, has had and has an organizational purpose, which is reflected in the elaboration of catalogs of authority. However, with the introduction of standards such as FRAD, RDA and LRM, the purpose of such catalogs put an emphasis on informational aspect. Thus, this research maintains that the current purpose of personal name authority catalogues, in addition to being organizational, is/can be informative, depending on the metadata (elements/ attributes) that are included.