Integrating Wikidata at the Library of Congress

Using Wikidata as a hub for institutional identifiers is one of the many potential uses of Wikidata for libraries. Many organizations maintain unique identifiers for people, subjects, works, etc. If these IDs are all added to Wikidata then the user could seamlessly access data from dozens of sources through the Wikidata ID.

The Library of Congress (LoC) maintains many authority files that are widely used. The Network Development and MARC Standard Office maintains the Linked Open Data version of the Name Authority File (NAF) and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) at the site id.loc.gov. With id.loc.gov, the LoC maintains links to many other institutions authority files including the French and German national libraries, other government services (Department of Agriculture) and other cultural institutions like the Getty Museum. Wikidata ids have been included in the id.loc.gov system.