There are two approaches to identifying chemical names in text. Some journal articles include the CAS RN for the major chemicals discussed. In addition, many organizations have small chemical files of their own that may include RNs and other information of particular relevance to the organization's research. It may be possible to link to these local databases using methods that are more direct. A common type of authority file is the personal name authority, which controls variants of personal names.
Name authorities serve as tools for catalogers and indexers.
They ensure that the proper form of the name, rather than an unapproved variant, is used and bring together all works by or about the person. A name authority file can also be used to link a bibliographic record or document containing the person's name to a variety of other related materials. If the digital library's resource has a standardized form of the name, it can be identified and searched against the authority file to locate variants. The standardized and variant forms can be joined in a search against a variety of other resources that can provide related information. The file, which contains integrated variant names, can be searched by the name appearing in the digital library collection.