The VIAF® (Virtual International Authority File) combines multiple name authority files into a single OCLC-hosted name authority service. The goal of the service is to lower the cost and increase the utility of library authority files by matching and linking widely-used authority files and making that information available on the Web.

Prefix

viaf

Keywords

centrally registered identifier subject agnostic

License

ODC-By-1.0

Links

Homepage

Pattern for Local Unique Identifiers

Local unique identifiers in Virtual International Authority File should match this regular expression:
^\d+$

Example Local Unique Identifier

75121530   Resolve

Pattern for CURIES

Compact URIs (CURIEs) constructed from Virtual International Authority File should match this regular expression:
^viaf:\d+$

Example CURIE

viaf:75121530

Format String for RDF URIs

http://viaf.org/viaf/$1

Example RDF URI

http://viaf.org/viaf/75121530

Contact

Missing Contact

Identifier Space Owner

OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. Ohio

A summary of the relations in the Semantic Farm schema can be found here.

In Collection (2)

NFDI4Culture Collection NFDI4Objects Collection

Mappings from records in Semantic Farm to external registries comprises the metaregistry. This resource has 6 mappings to external registries with 5 unique external prefixes.

A provider turns a local unique identifiers from a resource into a URI. Many providers are also resolvable as URLs (i.e., they can be used in a web browser).

The local unique identifier 75121530 is used to demonstrate the providers available for Virtual International Authority File. Some providers may use a different example, which is displayed in the table below. A guide for curating additional providers can be found here.

Additional providers curated in the Semantic Farm are listed here. These are typically inherited from Identifiers.org or Prefix Commons, and need extra curation.