The versatile applications of GND authority data

Clara Schumann, pastel drawing by Franz von Lehnbach, 1878 public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Authority data is necessary to describe a specific thing clearly. Every single GND data record describes an entity. In the library world, GND data records are used for descriptive and content cataloguing to permit the definitive referencing of recurring entities. In the Internet, the GND data records serve as reference points that link content across all borders. This is because every data record, and thus the entity it describes, has a globally unique, persistent ID number. This makes it possible to link the authority data with both each other, external data sets , web resources, and make them findable in other databases or online. Thus in an ideal scenario, one can find not only monographs on Clara Schumann, but also her compositions, recordings of her works and images of her. Furthermore, the GND data record on Clara Schumann is linked with other GND data records, her profession, her husband, her place of birth and the era in which she lived. In addition, further GND subject headings can be linked to the data record. Using all these related GND IDs, one can find additional content relating to Clara Schumann and thus tap into an entire universe of knowledge.

to the top