Authority validation and what to do with it

For member and original catalogers, name, title, name/title, and subject/ subdivision options will be active.  Do NOT change these settings without supervisor approval.

Use the authority validation to verify series according to the procedure "Series verification on original or member copy", and to double-check subject headings.

Voyager contains all name and subject authority records from the NAF and SAF except for the most recent. You should expect that most subject headings will be marked either "Heading validated" when the entire string matches an authority record, or "Partial Heading Validation" when the subfield a matches an authority record but the entire string does not.  Most name headings will be marked “Heading validated”, any other message indicates that further action is required.

Valid subject subdivisions may either be marked "Nonexistent Subdivision" or "Subdivision Validated" depending on whether or not an authority record exists for that subdivision.  Not all valid subdivisions have authority records.  Catalogers will determine whether or not subdivisions are acceptable based on their own knowledge or by consulting a list of valid subdivisions.

More specific information on validation messages and how to deal with them is included in the section on Using validation.