Linked Name Authority

The Dartmouth Linked Name Authority (LNA) was conceived of as an infrastructure project in support of multiple other information systems that require Dartmouth-specific data and metadata to operate. Previously, metadata and data created by Dartmouth College was spread across numerous independent systems, each having its own standards for the quality and type of data being kept. The Linked Name Authority aggregated name and citation data from these siloed systems when it was available and enhanced the available information as necessary to meet new, more stringent standards for data quality and completeness. The newly standardized data was then published as a public record upon which systems both internal and external to Dartmouth College would be able to draw, enhancing Dartmouth’s ability to participate in the emerging linked data and federated information system ecology.

LNA was decommissioned in 2017 due to internal changes in Dartmouth’s data management policies related to its institutional repository. Code and documentation for the LNA can be found on GitHub.