Authority Control
Introduction
LTI offers name and subject authority control based on the Library of Congress name and subject authority databases. LC authority files include 7 million name authority and 329,000 subject authority records. These files are supplemented by 2.2 million LTI name and subject authority records for which no LC authority is available.
In addition to LC name and subject headings, LTI also provides authority control over NLM MeSH, LC Children's, Sears, and selected genre subject headings. The difference between machine, or limited review processing, and full manual review is that in the latter every heading that remains unauthorized following machine processing is reviewed by an editor. Following that review, LC authority records will be found for some percentage of the headings that could not be linked by machine alone. While both limited and full manual review authority control options are available, for full manual review jobs we ask that the library submit its entire database for analysis prior to LTI's accepting the project.
LTI customer records receive the most advanced and rigorous authority control processing of any database vendor. Every batch or backfile authorization project undergoes some level of editor scrutiny for headings that could not be linked via computer. LTI is so confident of its authority control services that it guarantees 95% or more of a library's controlled headings will be linked to either an LC or an LTI authority record during limited review processing. If less than 95% of the library's headings link to an authority record, at no charge to the client we perform whatever additional editor review is needed to raise the library's overall heading link rate to 95%. This applies to all US libraries adhering to nationally accepted cataloging standards and practices.