Check how libraries file your name (VIAF)

If your books are split across two entries, or mixed in with another writer's, this is where you can see it, because it draws together what the contributing library files say about you. A first-time author will often find nothing here yet, and that is normal rather than a gap. Nobody on any route can claim, create, or edit an entry, so all three routes do the same thing, which is look; a wrong cluster is a symptom of a problem in one of the source files, and the fix normally has to be made there, through a cataloger or the relevant national library. Check that the works in the cluster are yours and record the identifier if the cluster is right.

A name authority record is the library record used to identify you as an author and distinguish you from other people with the same or similar names. It includes an authorized access point, the standardized form of your name used in library catalogs that follow Library of Congress practice. The record helps libraries connect your books to the right person, so if it is wrong, incomplete, or confused with another person, your books can be associated with the wrong author or become harder to find together. Most new authors won't have a name authority record until a library has a reason to create one, and that's normal. Authors can't create or directly edit their own LC/NACO authority records, so the practical step for every publishing route is to search and check. Traditionally and hybrid published authors may be able to get help through their publisher's library-facing staff, while self-published authors will generally need to work through a library or cataloger that participates in NACO. Search every name you publish under and keep enough identifying information handy for a cataloger to distinguish or correct your record if needed.

In practice this matters only once something has gone wrong, such as your books being filed under another writer's name or your own books being split between two entries. The useful thing to know is that the fix has to be made by a trained cataloger at a participating institution and that no fee shortcuts it, so a service offering to create your authority record for money should be treated with suspicion. There is nothing to join and no real difference between the routes here: on all three, the only move is normally to ask, at a university library, a large public library, or through the publisher's library-facing staff. Find a cataloger who can act and give that person the plain facts that separate you from another author.