Names, ancient names, authority control: a survey of Hungarian practice

The article reports and comments on the results of a 2004 survey concerning the audited peculiarities and coverage of the Hungarian practice in authority control. The aim of the survey is to get an empirical overview of various segments of authority work, such as quantitative data, recommendation of standards, editing authority records, consistency of authorised forms, transliteration practice, sharing authority information and utilizing external reference sources. Special attention was paid to the most variable name groups: ancient classics, medieval and ecclesiastic persons and bodies, and authorized forms of classical works. The results of the survey clearly show that there are only a few preconditions in Hungarian practice that are able to meet the new requirements appearing in new conceptions, such as functions of authority files, FRBR entity-relationship model, information management systems and users' expectations.