Comparing and evaluating corporate names in the national authority file (LC NAF) on OCLC and on the web

This paper compares one hundred corporate names listed in the National Authority File (LC NAF) on OCLC with the corporate names listed on official corporate web pages collected between October 1st and November 30th, 2001 in order to understand and evaluate their differences. Twenty five percent of corporate names found in the National Authority File are different from the form of corporate names found on official corporate web pages in this study. This creates a concern that users may not be finding everything issued by corporate bodies in library catalogs. Which form of corporate names should catalogers use as the authorized headings?.