Normdaten

Normdaten are standardized, machine-readable data records that describe entities such as persons, corporate bodies, conferences, and subject terms. They are used in libraries, archives, and other information systems to ensure authority control: each entity has a stable, preferred form of its name, with cross-references to variant spellings and historical name changes, and a persistent identifier. This enables unambiguous retrieval across catalogs and languages and supports data linking.

A Normdaten record usually includes a preferred name, variants, life dates or period of activity, roles or occupations, related places, and relations to other entities. In addition, it provides identifiers in external systems (for example ISNI, ORCID, VIAF) and a unique library identifier, such as a GND number. The data are designed for reuse in cataloging metadata formats (MARC, MARCXML) as well as in Linked Data environments.

In Germany, the central authority file is the Gemeinsame Normdatei (GND), maintained by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek and used by many libraries in German-speaking countries. The GND consolidates national authority data and offers cross-references to international authority files. It is published as Linked Data and provides stable URIs; for example, a GND entry can be reached via http://d-nb.info/gnd/123456789.

Normdaten support precise search and data integration in bibliographic catalogs, improve disambiguation of names, and enable connections between datasets on the web. They are produced and maintained collaboratively by libraries, archives, and cultural institutions and are increasingly integrated with global data ecosystems, including Wikidata and ISNI/VIAF networks.