April 8, 2016

In January of this year, the Libraries was approved for membership in the Library of Congress' Name Authority Cooperative Program [NACO] after successfully participating in the training and review process. This membership allows Drexel's library catalogers to directly contribute Name Authority Files to the Library of Congress - establishing national standards for consistent use of names, places, topics and more.

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world by collection size and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Though it officially serves the United States Congress, it is considered the national library for the country.

The NACO program allows participants to contribute authority records for people, corporations and jurisdictional names. Libraries staff can now add new authority files to uniquely identify researchers, authors, colleges and locations at Drexel, for Philadelphia and beyond.

Membership in NACO requires institutions to successfully complete a training process, pass a review and show consistency and accuracy in their contributions to the records to the LC/NACO Name Authority File. NACO-approved institutions can also make changes to existing records within certain parameters.