Name Authority Records (NAR) and NACO Services

What is a Name Authority Record (NAR)?

A Name Authority Record (NAR) is a standardized library record that uniquely identifies an individual, organization, or entity associated with scholarly work. It ensures that all publications by the same author are correctly attributed — even when names appear in different forms (e.g., with initials, name changes, or transliteration variations).

For example, a NAR connects so that they are recognized as one person in library systems:

• J. A. Smith
• John A. Smith
• Smith, John Andrew

What is NACO?

The Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) is part of the Library of Congress’s Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC). Through NACO, trained librarians at participating institutions can:

• Create new Name Authority Records.
• Update or correct existing records.
• Contribute directly to international authority databases.

As a participant in this program, NYU Libraries can actively ensure accurate representation of its faculty and researchers in global catalogs.

Why NARs Matter for Faculty

Accurate Name Authority Records are essential for scholarly visibility and attribution.

They help ensure that:

• All of your publications are correctly grouped together, even across different databases.
• Your work is discoverable by students, researchers, and collaborators.
• Your academic profile is consistent, regardless of name variations.
• Your citations and impact are accurately tracked.

Without a properly maintained NAR, publications can be split across multiple identities — making your scholarly record incomplete or harder to find.

When Should an NAR Be Updated Through NACO?

A NAR may need to be created or updated in situations such as:

• You publish under multiple name variations (e.g., initials, full name, transliteration differences).
• You have experienced a name change.
• Your work is being confused with another author of a similar name.
• Your publications are not consistently grouped together in library catalogs.
• Additional identifying information (e.g., affiliation, field) needs to be added for clarity.

In these cases, NACO-trained librarians can revise the record to ensure accuracy and proper disambiguation.