International initiatives in authority control

The requirement for and development of the Anglo‐American Authority File (AAAF) is described. The mechanics of its production and updating are indicated and its role within British Library cataloguing practice examined. Further developments of the file are discussed and developments through IFLA towards international exchange of authority data are described, indicating both opportunities and difficulties. The EC‐funded project AUTHOR is outlined and, finally, the British Library’s work with the Library of Congress and American Library Association on extending LCSH to works of fiction is described.