The (translated as ''Integrated Authority File'') or GND is an international

authority file In information science, authority control is a process that organizes information, for example in library catalogs, by using a single, distinct spelling of a name (heading) or a numeric identifier for each topic. The word ''authority'' in ''aut ...

for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from

catalogues Catalog or catalogue may refer to: *Cataloging **'emmy on the 'og **in science and technology ***Library catalog, a catalog of books and other media ****Union catalog, a combined library catalog describing the collections of a number of libraries ...

. It is used mainly for

documentation Documentation is any communicable material that is used to describe, explain or instruct regarding some attributes of an object, system or procedure, such as its parts, assembly, installation, maintenance and use. As a form of knowledge manageme ...

libraries A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

and increasingly also by

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...

s and

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and th ...

s. The GND is managed by the

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

(; DNB) in cooperation with various regional library networks in

German-speaking Europe This article details the geographical distribution of speakers of the German language, regardless of the legislative status within the countries where it is spoken. In addition to the German-speaking area (german: Deutscher Sprachraum) in Europ ...

and other partners. The GND falls under the

Creative Commons Zero A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...

(CC0) licence. The GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in

library classification A library classification is a system of organization of knowledge by which library resources are arranged and ordered systematically. Library classifications are a notational system that represents the order of topics in the classification and al ...

, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an

ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ...

intended for

knowledge representation Knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR, KR&R, KR²) is the field of artificial intelligence (AI) dedicated to representing information about the world in a form that a computer system can use to solve complex tasks such as diagnosing a medic ...

in the semantic web, available in the RDF format. The GND became operational in April 2012 and integrates the content of the following authority files, which have since been discontinued: * (PND) (Translation: Name Authority File) * (GKD) (Translation: Corporate Bodies Authority File) * (SWD) (Translation: Subject Headings Authority File) * (DMA-EST) (Translation: Uniform Title File of the German Music Archive) It is referred to by identifiers named ''GND-ID''. At the time of its introduction on 5 April 2012, the GND held 9,493,860 files, including 2,650,000 personalised names. In July 2020 non-individualized files were deleted. In 2022, the GND held 9,370,736 files, including 5,937,788 personalised names. The GND participates in the

Virtual International Authority File The Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) is an international authority file. It is a joint project of several national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). History Discussion about having a common ...

(VIAF) project.

Types of GND high-level entities

There are six main types of GND entities:„Entitätencodierung – Vergaberichtlinien“
(pdf)

References

External links

Information pages about the GND
from the German National Library
Search via OGND
()
Bereitstellung des ersten GND-Grundbestandes
DNB, 19 April 2012
From Authority Control to Linked Authority Data
Presentation given by Reinhold Heuvelmann (German National Library) to the ALA MARC Formats Interest Group, June 2012 {{Authority control Computer-related introductions in 2012 Library cataloging and classification Unique identifiers Creative Commons-licensed databases